The article is currently in W.I.P.

About

Highguard is a 2026 first-person hero shooter game developed and published by Wildlight Entertainment. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S in January 2026. Upon its reveal at the Game Awards 2025, marketing for the game went radio silence until its release, sparking internet memes and criticism, with numerous users comparing it to Concord in terms of longevity and poor launch.

History

Highguard was first revealed as the final premier game of The Game Awards 2025 by host Geoff Keighley on December 9th. Wildlight Entertainment, a new studio comprised of former developers from Titanfall and Apex Legends ^[1], first announced the game back in 2023, which they said that it had been in development on “for some time" since 2022. The trailer ^[2] currently has 153.131 views and 1,900 likes, but has over 17,171 dislikes (when Return YouTube Dislike extension is used).

Following its reveal, Highguard's maketing went silent on social media for the rest of December 2025 to mid-to-late January 2026, until after the launch on January 26 with a gameplay showcase.

According to the developers, the reason for the lack of marketing was because it was intended to be a "shadowdrop" in order to "let the game speak for itself". ^[4] Geoff Keighley spoke about this as well, saying that he chose the game based on his support instead of a paid promotion according to Forbes ^[5]

Reception

Upon its launch, Highguard received mixed reviews from critics and mostly negative reviews from users on Steam, mostly due to its nature as a live-service hero shooter, which was already in a oversaturated state. Despite this, it currently reached 97,000 concurrent players on Steam within the first hour of its launch according to GameRant. ^[6]

Online Presence

External References