Highguard Developer Wildlight Entertainment Announces Layoffs After Player Numbers Decline

Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment has confirmed layoffs at the studio just over two weeks after the release of the game. Wildlight, a newly formed independent studio, did not specified the number of employees affected by the cuts, but a former staffer at the company said that “most of the team” had been laid off. The studio said it would continue supporting Highguard despite dwindling player numbers.

News of layoffs broke when Alex Graner, a former senior level designer at Wildlight, said that he had been laid off alongside “most of the team” at the studio.

“Unfortunately, along with most of the team at Wildlight, I was laid off today,” Graner said in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. “This one really stings as there was a lot of unreleased content I was really looking forward to that I and others designed for Highguard.”

Posts from other Wildlight employees saying they had been laid off followed. The studio confirmed the layoffs in an announcement on X, but did not specify the number of workers impacted by the cuts.

“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,” the studio said.

“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.”

Highguard Launch

Highguard was the final reveal at The Game Awards 2025, following which it was criticised for its perceived similarity to hero shooters like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals. The PvP raid shooter launched as a free-to-play title on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X on January 26. While first-day player numbers were encouraging as the game peaked to nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, the average player base quickly fell below 5,000 users.

Since release, Wildlight has been quick to support the game with updates that added a 5v5 mode, a new map, and more as part of its episode 2 content on February 6. The studio had revealed a roadmap of post-launch updates for the game, promising seven episodes of new content throughout 2026. It's unclear if Wildlight will follow up on its plans to support the game for the rest of the year.