Highguard was Released Before it was even Finished

A remarkable statement has emerged regarding Highguard, which was announced to be shutting down shortly after its release. Wildlight Entertainment, the game’s developer, confirmed that Highguard was actually released before it was fully ready. The statement was made on social media by the studio’s game director, Chad Grenier.

Highguard Released Early Due to Financial Problems

Grenier was quite frank in responding to a player who said the game was released in a “skeletal state.” According to the developer, the studio was under significant pressure in terms of both time and finances. Therefore, the team was forced to release the game before completing its development.

Grenier stated that when a studio runs out of both time and money, there may be no option other than to release the game with the available resources and then hope for player support. However, while this model is usually applied to early access games, Highguard’s free-to-play nature made revenue generation even more difficult.

It is also noted that there were some uncertainties regarding investment during the game’s development process. It was revealed that the project was funded by Tencent at one point, but the details of the agreement were never officially disclosed. According to industry sources, the game’s failure to meet performance expectations may have led to a decrease in investment support.

Grenier also stated that the market changed rapidly during development, and the vision set more than four years ago faced a completely different market at launch. Changing player expectations and investment pressure are cited as significant factors affecting the project’s direction.

Highguard’s servers will be completely shut down on March 12th. This will add another short-lived live-service project to the gaming world.

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