Sixteen days. That’s how long it took between Highguard’s launch on January 26, 2026 and developer Wildlight Entertainment confirming it had laid off most of its roughly 100-person team. It’s one of the fastest turnarounds from launch to layoffs in recent memory — and it raises uncomfortable questions about the state of live-service gaming.
What Went Wrong
Highguard is a free-to-play PvP raid shooter developed by former Respawn Entertainment veterans (the Apex Legends and Titanfall team). On paper, the pedigree was there. The game was even featured as the final world-premiere reveal at The Game Awards 2025 — a prestigious slot offered personally by Geoff Keighley, who believed in the project.
The reveal was poorly received. The trailer focused on cinematics rather than showcasing Highguard’s unique PvP raid loop, and the internet responded with what many described as “a resounding meh.” Wildlight’s CEO later admitted they “could have made a different trailer.”
The game itself launched to nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam — a strong start. But that number quickly crashed below 5,000. As of mid-February, Highguard sits at a “Mixed” rating across roughly 38,000 Steam reviews.
The Layoffs
On approximately February 11, Wildlight confirmed it “made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members.” A former developer stated that “most” of the studio’s 100+ employees were affected. A “core group” will remain to continue supporting the game.
Reports indicate that Tencent was the undisclosed lead financial backer of Wildlight through its subsidiary TiMi Studio Group — a connection that raised additional questions about The Game Awards reveal, given Tencent’s known relationship with the show.
Part of a Bigger Pattern
The Wildlight layoffs are part of a grim pattern in early 2026:
- Riot Games laid off roughly half the team working on its fighting game 2XKO
- 10 Chambers (GTFO, Den of Wolves) cut staff during restructuring
- Sumo Digital, ProbablyMonsters, and Ustwo (Monument Valley) all reduced headcount in early February
The GDC 2026 survey found that one-third of US game industry workers were laid off in the past two years, with two-thirds of AAA studio respondents experiencing layoffs at their companies. The broader trend reflects studios correcting for aggressive hiring during 2020-2022 and trimming projects with long development cycles.
What Happens Next
Wildlight says a core team will keep Highguard running. Whether that’s sustainable for a live-service game with a dwindling player base remains to be seen. For the developers who lost their jobs, they join thousands of industry veterans looking for work in what’s become the most challenging job market gaming has seen in years.
It’s a sobering reminder: even a Game Awards spotlight and 100K launch-day players don’t guarantee survival in 2026’s gaming industry.
The Growing Pattern of Post-Launch Layoffs
Highguard Studio is not an isolated case. In 2025 and 2026, dozens of studios have laid off staff within weeks or months of shipping a game. The pattern is becoming disturbingly common: a studio crunches to hit a deadline, the game launches to modest sales, and layoffs follow almost immediately. The workers who sacrificed the most to ship the product are the first to lose their jobs.
The root cause is often a disconnect between production costs and realistic sales expectations. Games are becoming more expensive to make while the market grows more competitive. Mid-tier titles that would have been profitable a decade ago now struggle to break even against the sheer volume of releases competing for player attention and wallet share.
What Can Be Done
Industry advocates are pushing for several structural changes: longer post-launch support commitments before layoff decisions, severance packages that reflect crunch contributions, and unionization efforts that give workers collective bargaining power. The Game Workers Alliance and similar organizations have gained significant membership in the past year, and their influence on studio practices is slowly growing. For players, the most impactful action is supporting games from studios that treat their workers well and being vocal about labor practices on social media and review platforms. Consumer pressure has historically been one of the most effective forces for change in the gaming industry.
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