Tencent Already Cut Funding for Game as Highguard Crumbles

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Highguard, announced at The Game Awards in December and launched in January, faced near abandonment by February, becoming a potential flop rivaling Sony’s Concord. Wildlight Entertainment, the studio behind the game, laid off most of its 100 employees less than three weeks after launch, following Tencent’s withdrawal of funding. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Tencent, the primary financial backer of Wildlight Entertainment and Highguard’s development, abruptly cut funding after the game’s release. This decision, revealed during a meeting on February 11th, forced Wildlight to reduce its staff to fewer than 20. Former Respawn Entertainment employees founded Wildlight Entertainment, aiming to replicate Apex Legends’ success with a profit-sharing model that would allocate a larger portion of earnings to the development team. The founders were reportedly motivated by their experience at Respawn, where they felt underserved by the massive revenue Apex Legends generated for Electronic Arts.

However, the landscape had changed significantly. While Apex Legends launched in 2019, Highguard’s release came in 2024 into a saturated multiplayer shooter market, with players deeply engaged in established ecosystems, making retention a major challenge. Highguard’s initial concept as a Rust-inspired survival shooter evolved two years later into a simpler 3v3 raid shooter. Vestiges of the original concept remained, however, including vast maps, unpopular mining mechanics, and complex systems. The resulting experience proved demanding and heavily reliant on voice chat, which made it less appealing to solo players and those seeking casual group play. Wildlight Entertainment believed a simultaneous launch and grand announcement, similar to Apex Legends, would guarantee Highguard’s success. Without a beta test period to adapt the game, the studio relied on initial curiosity and immediate public attention.

Highguard’s Swift Decline in Competitive Market After Failed Retention Goals

Highguard initially reached approximately 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. However, this initial interest didn’t translate into sustained engagement, and within three weeks, 90% of the initial players had abandoned the game. Schreier reported that Tencent’s funding was contingent on Highguard achieving specific player retention targets. Having failed to meet these goals, Tencent cut funding, leading to the dismantling of the studio. On February 12, Wildlight Entertainment confirmed the layoffs at the studio. Despite Wildlight’s initial hopes, Highguard’s concurrent player count has plummeted. The game’s daily peak on Steam has fallen to just 600 concurrent players, a number that is unsustainable for a project monetized through microtransactions. The story of Highguard serves as a cautionary tale in an increasingly competitive gaming market.

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