Yesterday saw the official Highguard website become unavailable as the game suffers from low player counts and scandal following the reported reveal of Tencent as a secret investor in the game. Responding to the outage via Discord, one of the remaining developers on Highguard clarified that the website is being “transferred and simplified”, but bringing it back online is a “low priority”, specifically pointing to “reputational damage already done” being the reason behind the slow recovery of the site.
At the end of the message, the developer clarifies that Highguard seemingly isn’t going anywhere just yet, as they’re focusing “on delivering updates and content to improve.” The team at Wildlight Entertainment has shown willingness to listen to player feedback with the introduction of a 5v5 mode into Highguard, but with mass layoffs removing most of the development staff, it seems unlikely these changes affected player engagement or spending.
Highguard is struggling, and it’s likely due to just how stacked the genre is. The live service model is an inherently competitive one; we all have limited time in the day and so daily engagement games must fight to be the one we’re willing to engage with. Highguard has struggled to sell players on exactly why they’re worth the time and spending of their players compared to other releases like Overwatch or Fortnite.
Wildlight are pushing ahead on improving Highguard through new updates and content, and we’ll be sure to report on the changes as they happen. Whether it will be enough for player counts to increase and sustain the team further remains to be seen, especially following the reputation the game has found itself with. For more breaking gaming news written for humans and by humans, check back often to GameObserver.
