Jason McCord, the design director for Wildlight Entertainment’s controversial shooter Highguard, has released a lengthy statement sharing his thoughts on the game’s imminent shutdown. Before joining Wildlight in 2021 and becoming the design director for Highguard, McCord worked on some of the biggest first-person shooters in gaming history, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Apex Legends, and Titanfall. Unfortunately, the developer is now bidding farewell to his latest project, just 7 weeks after it launched.
After the game’s player count fell hard and fast following its release at the end of January, speculation about a possible shutdown quickly began. Highguard‘s website mysteriously went offline, prompting theories that the end was near, but a developer quickly dismissed the rumors, stating that it was merely for maintenance purposes. However, just a couple of weeks later, those theories became a reality, as Wildlight recently announced that Highguard will be shutting down for good on March 12. Despite more than 2 million people jumping in at launch, the studio said it failed to build a sustainable player base and therefore could not support the game long term.
Highguard Dev Speaks Out After Website Outage Sparks Shutdown Rumors
A Wildlight Entertainment developer speaks out after Highguard’s website goes offline, prompting speculation that the shooter may soon follow suit.
Highguard Director Releases New Statement
With Highguard‘s unfortunate shutdown just days away, the shooter’s design director, Jason McCord, has taken to LinkedIn to share his thoughts on Highguard‘s demise. McCord begins by saying it is the post that “no developer ever wants to make,” before saying that Wildlight “swung for the fences in a saturated marketing.” The developer says he is proud of the team’s attempt to bring something original to the table, “regardless of how it turned out.” He also notes that there were “difficulties” that the team went through following Highguard‘s surprise reveal at last year’s Game Awards, but didn’t elaborate further on that statement.
After taking the coveted final spot over the likes of Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, Tomb Raider: Catalyst, and Divinity, Highguard was thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Wildlight initially planned to shadow drop the game at the end of January, but rumors suggest Game Awards host Geoff Keighley enjoyed his hands-on time with Highguard so much that he insisted it be revealed during the ceremony. While Keighley may have believed this was going to be the next big thing in the shooter space, even supposedly giving Highguard the final spot at the Game Awards for free, it prompted backlash for closing the show over other big reveals that were made at the event.
McCord also acknowledges the “skeleton crew” that was left working on Highguard following layoffs at Wildlight Entertainment shortly after the game was launched. Just two weeks after Wildlight’s first title was released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, its dwindling player count resulted in the studio making a large portion of its employees redundant. However, Wildlight said it would be keeping a “core group of developers” to continue working and innovating on Highguard. While the game will no longer be playable from March 12, the remaining staff did continue releasing tons of new content over the last few weeks, with the most recent update arriving on March 4, adding account progression, a skill tree, a new Warden, and more.
“Everyone has their thoughts on why the game failed to find an audience,” McCord said in his statement, saying that many are “partially true” while others are “way off the mark.” One theory that has been thrown around comes from a former developer, who speculated that Highguard‘s failure was largely due to a strong focus on the competitive scene. Former senior level designer for Highguard, Alex Garner, recently criticized the game’s 3v3 launch mode, calling the concept the “sweatiest version” of anything, such as Battle Royale or objective-based modes. The dev says the team leaned “too far into the competitive scene,” which is likely why it turned so many players away.
- Released
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January 26, 2026
- Developer(s)
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Wildlight Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
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Wildlight Entertainment
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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Full
