Following a wave of layoffs at Wildlight Entertainment, Josh Sobel—a technical artist and rigger who contributed to the development of Highguard—has shared a candid post-mortem on X (formerly Twitter) regarding the game’s turbulent reception and subsequent decline.
Sobel recalled the optimism permeating the studio prior to The Game Awards 2025, describing it as one of the most exhilarating periods of his career. “After 2.5 years of passionately working on Highguard, we were ready to reveal it to the world. The future seemed bright,” he noted. However, that enthusiasm was short-lived. Despite positive internal metrics and feedback during development, the public unveiling triggered a rapid downward spiral.
The backlash was swift and personal. Sobel described a “coordinated dogpiling” on the game’s trailer and revealed that he became a target of online hostility. When he transitioned his social media profile to private to shield himself from the vitriol, content creators reportedly accused him of “cowardice.”
In his lengthy reflection, Sobel condemned the speed at which Highguard was dismissed by the gaming community, noting it was branded “dead on arrival” almost instantly. He pointed to staggering statistics: the title was hit with over 14,000 review bombs at launch, many coming from users who had logged less than an hour of playtime—some failing to even complete the mandatory tutorial.
Addressing the broader tension between developers and their audience, Sobel challenged the notion that gamers lack the power to sink a project. “All products are at the whims of the consumers, and the consumers put absurd amounts of effort into slandering Highguard,” he wrote. While he didn’t absolve the project of its own shortcomings, he argued that the culture of negativity surrounding titles like Highguard, Concord, and 2XKO creates a toxic environment that actively discourages innovation. He warned that talented developers may stay trapped in “golden handcuffs” at major AAA studios rather than risk the independent, self-published route if their efforts are met with “gleeful” celebrations of failure.
The data underscores a grim reality for the studio. Although Highguard saw a respectable peak of nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam during its January launch, its current daily average has plummeted to roughly 3% of that total. This sharp attrition raises difficult questions about the long-term viability of the free-to-play model in an increasingly saturated market.
In our own assessment of Highguard, we noted that while the game possesses a solid mechanical foundation, it ultimately suffers from “wasted potential.” The consensus remains that the title required more refinement and “time in the oven” before it was truly prepared for the scrutiny of the global stage.
Source: Polygon
