Highguard Experiences High Player Count and Review-Bombing at Launch

Within its opening hours, Highguard launched to mixed success on Steam, as the game simultaneously held mostly negative reviews and a rising concurrent player count. The sudden surge from Highguard came after several weeks of silence from developer Wildlight Entertainment after the game’s public unveiling.

Highguard was first revealed at the end of the 2025 Game Awards broadcast as the first project from fledgling studio Wildlight Entertainment. Co-founded by Dusty Welch and Chad Grenier, Wildlight is a remote-based studio with offices in Los Angeles and Seattle. The studio consists of developers who previously worked on other shooter IPs like Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and Titanfall, with the latter two series produced by EA subsidiary Respawn Entertainment.

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Highguard Off to a Controversially Fast Start on Steam

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Given that Highguard is a free-to-play title that is primarily supported by in-game purchases of different items, the new team shooter has drawn some divisive attention from Steam users. According to SteamDB, the peak Steam player count of Highguard had reached 97,249 users. The feat was achieved within a few hours of Highguard‘s January 26 global launch, though the player count has since tapered off. Given that Highguard is also available for free on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles with cross-play functionality, the total player count is likely to be much higher across all available platforms. Additionally, Highguard had a peak Twitch viewership count of 377,266 users across the entire site during launch day, as curious gamers tuned into various content creators that showcased what Wildlight’s debut game was all about.

However, the initial attention was not completely positive for Highguard, as the PVP shooter also received a swathe of negative Steam reviews within the game’s opening hours. Across 1,863 Steam user reviews, Highguard had an Overwhelmingly Negative rating of 17%, which is a telltale sign of ongoing review-bombing. However, some of Highguard‘s initially negative attention can be attributed to the nature of being a free-to-play team shooter. Games like Overwatch 2 have received similar negativity on Steam despite their ongoing popularity. Along with the controversy surrounding Highguard‘s spotlight during The Game Awards, the game also utilizes Epic’s EASY Anti-Cheat and requires PC users to have Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 enabled. Given the game’s mandate to utilize kernel-level anti-cheat requirements, Highguard‘s compatibility with the Steam Deck and the upcoming Steam Machine is currently unclear.

Perception is the Key to Highguard’s Future

As the game went live globally, Wildlight shared a developer’s deep dive into Highguard‘s gameplay, along with what players can expect after logging in. Highguard’s PVP raid system consists of two teams made of three players each, as both teams collect loot found across the map. The main goal of Highguard is to find a powerful sword called the Shieldbreaker. True to its name, the Shieldbreaker sword can pierce through an enemy base’s shields and start a raid to destroy the base. However, the defending party can fend off the assault using the loot they collected. To keep things fresh, each Highguard player controls one of a growing roster of characters known as Wardens, who have different abilities that can turn the tide of a team battle. With more Wardens planned to arrive after the game’s launch, it remains to be seen how the initial controversies surrounding Highguard will impact potential player interest.

Additionally, Highguard‘s launch came amid a busy week on the 2026 game release calendar. With titles like Code Vein 2 and Front Mission 3: Remake also releasing in late January, and a slew of February launches like Resident Evil Requiem still to come, Highguard‘s quick surge could be seen as a positive for Wildlight and its debut game. However, time will tell if Highguard can keep up its initial momentum and change some of the initial negative attention.