From Game Awards finale to failure: Highguard studio collapses in under two months

The studio behind the flash-in-the-pan title, Highguard, is seemingly about to close its doors, as its LinkedIn page and official website have been taken down.

The removal of both the Wildlight Entertainment website and the studio's LinkedIn account comes after mass layoffs at the developer last month, following the tragic launch of Highguard. For those who don't know, Highguard was championed by Geoff Keighley at The Game Awards 2025, where the presenter left the unveiling until the very end of the show, specifically in the spot traditionally taken by big AAA titles teasing fans about an upcoming release. However, the response to The Game Awards trailer was lukewarm at best, and that was followed by a release just over a month later.

Initially, the developers of Highguard wanted to replicate Apex Legends' success, as the team behind the title consisted of many veteran game developers from Respawn Entertainment, the studio that created EA's hit battle royale. However, within weeks of Highguard launching, the studio was forced to let go of as many as 100 employees, leaving less than 20 staff to salvage the remainder of the title. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier penned a report outlining the factors that led to Highguard's failure.

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For example, there was a discrepancy between the public's experience and internal testing, the surprise release, and, according to former employees at the studio, hubris by studio executives who believed they could replicate the success of Apex Legends despite different market conditions, player needs, and design choices.