Highguard to shut down March 12, six weeks after launch
Mar 4th 2026
Highguard, the free to play shooter from Wildlight Entertainment that launched on January 26 after a Game Awards reveal, will shut down servers on March 12 after player numbers fell and the studio cut most of its staff.
- Wildlight Entertainment will permanently shut Highguard on March 12.
- The free to play shooter launched on January 26 after being revealed at The Game Awards in December.
- Wildlight says more than 2 million players tried the game but the player base declined quickly.
- The studio laid off most of its development team in February while keeping a core group to support the game.
- Bloomberg reported that Tencent had funded Wildlight and withdrew support after the game's soft launch.
- A final update adding a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression and skill trees will be released before shutdown.
- Highguard joins other rapid live service closures and highlights the high risk in the live service and triple A market, such as Sony's Concord which shut two weeks after its August 2024 launch.