Why did Wildlight lay off Highguard staff?
What happened and where things stand
Wildlight Entertainment cut a large portion of the team that built Highguard just weeks after the game’s launch. Multiple former developers publicly reported the layoffs on LinkedIn, saying that “most of the team” was let go, and the company later confirmed that it had carried out reductions. Wildlight also said the project was not being closed: a smaller, core group of developers will remain to support Highguard going forward.
The move came very shortly after release. Reporting notes the layoffs occurred roughly two to three weeks after Highguard launched, at a time when the studio had been actively patching and promoting the new shooter.
Known facts
- A wave of staff exits was reported by former employees on LinkedIn and elsewhere.
- Wildlight acknowledged cuts and said it retained a core team to continue supporting the game.
- The layoffs happened within weeks of Highguard’s release.
What the public still doesn’t know
- The exact number of people laid off was not disclosed.
- The company has not published a detailed explanation of the business or operational reasons behind the reductions.
Why it matters
- Live service pressure: New multiplayer launches are judged quickly by player numbers and revenue, and studios often adjust teams fast when performance falls short of internal targets.
- Ongoing support risk: With a smaller staff, future updates, new content, and bug fixes could slow or be deprioritized.
- Industry trend: The incident joins a string of high-profile, post-launch layoffs that highlight the volatility of running live online games.
The basic situation is clear: Highguard is not being shuttered, but its developer has been slimmed down. Several important details — most notably the exact scale of the cuts and the company’s longer-term roadmap for the game — remain unspecified.