Highguard Calls It Quits (But At Least It Beat Concord)

2 hours ago 1

Published Mar 3, 2026, 4:58 PM EST

Scott Baird is a contributor with over a decade's experience writing about video games, along with board games and tabletop RPGs. Scott has previously worked for Dexerto, Cracked, Dorkly, and Gamepur.

The end has come for Highguard, the live service multiplayer shooter with a short, but memorable lifespan, as the developers have announced that the game will come to a close on March 12, 2026.

Highguard was first announced as the closing reveal at The Game Awards 2025. It was a multiplayer hero-based shooter whose main gimmick seemed to be mounts. After receiving a huge number of downloads at launch, the player count for Highguard dwindled, with the discourse surrounding the game focused on its inability to keep people around, never mind getting them to pay for skins.

With numerous layoffs at Wildlight, fans had assumed that the end was coming for Highguard. Those fears have now been confirmed: the official Highguard Twitter/X account has stated that there will be one more update, then the game will shut down on March 12.

Did Highguard Ever Stand A Chance?

Highguard Details Ranked Mode and Patch Date 1

A frustrating aspect of the reporting around Highguard is that the games media wanted it to fail, that content creators putting out negative videos were, in some way, responsible for the game's downfall.

Nothing can be further from the truth. People in the video game industry, especially those who REPORT ON IT for a living, want games to succeed; they want people passionate about and talking about new games. All the death of Highguard is worth is a few headlines, before it's gone forever.

The reason Highguard failed wasn't that clickbaity YouTubers put it down or because Geoff Keighley's generosity set too high expectations for it: it failed because it wasn't special.

The reason Highguard failed wasn't that clickbaity YouTubers put it down or because Geoff Keighley's generosity set too high expectations for it: it failed because it wasn't special. It had bland character designs and wasn't playtested enough before launch. That's not good enough in a packed market filled with games that have entrenched audiences. There could have been something special in Highguard, but it wasn't ready for the limelight.

At the very least, Highguard wasn't as big a bomb as titles like Concord, which is likely small comfort for the people who worked on it. That's the true tragedy of Highguard, and it's something often overlooked when another game enters the digital graveyard. DualShockers hopes that everyone affected by the closure of Highguard can find new positions soon.