Highguard’s developer reportedly lays off ‘most’ of its staff just over two weeks after launch

Source: The Verge

Highguard layoffs

Highguard, a new multiplayer shooter from developers who previously worked on games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty, launched just over two weeks ago. According to posts from affected staffers on LinkedIn, developer Wildlight Entertainment is already cutting jobs. Former Wildlight level designer Alex Graner says that “most of the team at Wildlight” was laid off, a claim backed up by former lead tech artist Josh Sobel.

“Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game,” Wildlight said in a statement. “We’re proud of the team, talent, and the product we’ve created together. We’re also grateful for players who gave the game a shot, and those who continue to be a part of our community.”

Game performance and updates

Highguard was first announced as the final reveal at The Game Awards in December with a splashy trailer promoting a January 26 launch date. The game reportedly hit nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam on launch day, but it holds a “Mixed” rating on the platform and has just over 2,400 concurrent players as of this writing, according to SteamDB.

The game launched with three‑player teams, but shortly after launch Wildlight added a limited‑time 5v5 mode, which was made permanent a few days later.

Other industry layoffs

This week, Riot Games also announced cuts on a major live‑service project, laying off about 80 people from its recently launched 2XKO fighting game set in the League of Legends universe.

Update (February 11)

Added statement from Wildlight.