The discharge of Highguard didn’t go effectively, however the builders should not letting it get them down and nonetheless imagine of their recreation.
Though the brand new hero shooter launched efficiently on Steam two days in the past with virtually 100,000 gamers, the numbers for Highguard plummeted simply as rapidly because the person rankings on Valve’s platform. Present standing: solely 35 p.c optimistic critiques.
However even earlier than its launch, there was plenty of criticism and mock after the primary trailer on the Sport Awards in December 2025 didn’t go down significantly effectively with gamers.
Within the week earlier than the discharge, some members of the press have been capable of check the sport at an occasion in Los Angeles and conduct interviews with the builders at Wildlight Leisure.
In interview with PC Gamer, additionally they commented on how they handled the cruel reactions to the trailer. Lead designer Mohammad Alavi reported:
Truthfully, we don’t want an enormous participant depend to achieve success. We’re a small group. A six-player match isn’t arduous to search out. What we actually need is a core group of followers who love us. That may enable us to develop. It’s annoying to be the goal of the web hate machine, however on the similar time, I attempt to simply give attention to making the perfect recreation I can and getting that recreation out to folks. Finally, that’s all that basically issues.
Jason Torfin, VP of Mission and Publishing, provides on the subject of web hate and the doubts expressed concerning the want for extra hero shooters:
The web does web issues. If you wish to present a superb stay service, you’ve got to have the ability to learn between the strains. Sure, there are indicators that persons are drained, that they’re confused, that they don’t know this stuff. So it’s as much as us to reply, and we are going to.
Wildlight Leisure has grown to over 100 workers throughout its 4 years of growth. A studio of this measurement ought to nonetheless have a sure participant base, particularly for a Free2Play recreation.
Shooters dominate the market
Studio founder and CEO Dusty Welch additionally sees that there are numerous representatives of the style, however no oversaturation. In line with Welch, shooters are nonetheless “the gasoline that drives the gaming trade.”
The info would present this, in keeping with the CEO. 5 of the highest 10 PC video games are shooters by way of month-to-month lively customers, and these video games additionally cleared the path by way of enjoying time and income. Development for shooters stays “unbelievable.”
Wildlight Leisure desires to develop from a small base and sees potential for Highguard to ascertain itself in a market with quite a few choices. Not less than that was the plan earlier than the discharge.
On Steam, nevertheless, this future doesn’t look fairly so rosy, however the recreation has additionally been launched for PlayStation and Xbox. No participant numbers are recognized for both platform.
