Highguard Developer Allegedly Lays Off “Most Of The Team” Just Weeks After The Game’s Release [UPDATED]

[UPDATE]

Wildlight Entertainment released a statement confirming previously reported layoffs. On its social channels, the studio stated that “a number of our team members” have been let go, without offering a firm number. The statement mentions that a “core group of developers” have been retained to continue work on the live-service game, but it doesn’t elaborate on the reasoning behind the downsizing.

[ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS]

Developer Wildlight Entertainment, the team behind the recently released shooter Highguard, has allegedly laid off “most of the team,” according to an affected staff member.

Highguard, a competitive online shooter and Wildlight’s debut title, released on January 26 of this year and was met with a mixed critical response. Despite criticisms and concerns, many who jumped into the free-to-play raid shooter on launch were hopeful that, with some tweaks, balancing, and implementation of fan feedback, the game could evolve into something special.

While that may still be on the cards for Highguard, things have taken a rather unfortunate turn, as it appears as though most of the team at Wildlight Entertainment has been let go. Alex Graner, a Senior Level Designer at Wildlight, took to LinkedIn this morning to announce that he has been laid off and is now looking for work.

Furthermore, Graner’s post claims that he wasn’t alone, stating that he “along with most of the team” had been let go today.

Wildlight Entertainment hasn’t made any official statement on the layoffs at this stage, and without specifics, doesn’t know exactly how many team members are now looking for work. With that said, according to the studio’s website, 103 developers are/were a part of this new outfit. Wildlight began life as an incubation project within Respawn Entertainment before becoming its own entity to focus on developing its first game, which would go on to become Highguard.

The studio and its debut title were both revealed during The Game Awards 2025, which seems like as good a place as any to get eyes on your upcoming game. Unfortunately, Highguard filled in the coveated “one more thing” spot to close out the show, which is usually reserved for the biggest and best surprise. By no means am I saying that Highguard showed poorly during The Game Awards, but a free-to-play three-versus-three online competitive shooter that no one has seen before is a hard sell in that particular spot.

To make matters worse, Highguard was released over a month after the event, rather than shadow-dropping during it. It’s impossible to say whether the reception would’ve been more positive had Wildlight been able to pull this off, but the complete radio silence from the studio between the game’s reveal and release certainly didn’t help raise anticipation. The team has already implemented changes and introduced limited-time mode, such as a five-versus-five variant match type, and Graner mentions “unreleased content” in his post that would hint at a potential future for this new live-service title, but it’s hard to know if that content will see the light of day, with all things considered.

What are your thoughts on Highguard? Have you played it? Are you still playing it? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.