What went wrong with Highguard? The “hubris” of its developer’s leadership, say former staff in a new report

When a game like Highguard, with its Apex Legends creators and reported Tencent funding, comes out and just kind of flops, you have to wonder what happened to get it to this point. Well, a new report from Mr. Scoop himself Jason Schreier over at Bloomberg appears to have shed a bit of light on the whole palaver through speaking with former Wildlight staffers.

The story goes way back to 2021, when several devs working at Respawn decided to quit to start their own studio, partially for some creative freedom, but with this new report also claiming that part of the reason was simply about money. Specifically, Apex Legends made a whole bunch of it, and its makers felt they weren’t getting an even share, so intended for their new studio to include a profit-sharing program, which is part of what helped to bring in several other Respawn staffers.

Apparently around two years into development, Wildlight knew that their game wasn’t working and was too big in scope, so in January 2024 they began to refine it into what ultimately came to be. There were apparent hopes to develop single-player stories set within the same world, with Highguard serving as a starting point for expansion further down the line.

When it came to testing, it was quickly found that the game was only really fun with mics on, and Wildlight staffers said it was a much worse experience without voice chat. Members of the team did apparently suggest conducting tests from the game to start building a community, but management would always shoot this down, hoping to recreate the same success they found with Apex Legends, i.e. keeping it a secret and launching it right after announcing it.

It’s worth noting that the devs at Wildlight felt positive about working at the studio, until the last couple of months around launch, where morale struggled and many started to question the choice for the surprise launch. This launch ultimately didn’t work, despite a pretty strong start, but despite the struggle staff believed there was enough money to allow them to keep working on the game to address any issues. But in mid-February, staff were told there wasn’t any money, with many believing that the financial support from funders was based on hitting particular metrics the game had failed to meet, ultimately resulting in layoffs.

A number of former staffers apparently pinned the game’s more-or-less failure on the “hubris” of leadership believing they could repeat the success they found with Apex Legends. Now, apparently less than 20 devs are continuing to work on Highguard at Wildlight, with a new mode having arrived just today. In the world of live service, however, 20 people does not seem like enough to keep a game like this going for particularly long. Good luck to those out of work, and those still in it.