Highguard has already turned into what will likely go down as the biggest disappointment of 2026 for the AAA industry. Although the game was helmed by veteran first-person shooter developers and had no shortage of ambitions, it ended up being yet another live-service release that was quickly forgotten by mainstream audiences.
In the aftermath, developer Wildlight Entertainment has been hit with massive layoffs, and many of the people who worked on the project are now reflecting on their work. In particular, Josh Sobel has come forward with a heartfelt message regarding Highguard and its development.
On Twitter, the former Wildlight Entertainment developer discussed multiple angles of the team’s failure, highlighting how online discourse played a major role in everything. He also revealed that ahead of Highguard’s launch, the team was told that it had a surefire hit on its hands.
According to Josh Sobel, Highguard had no shortage of praise from people who had information about the game ahead of its Game Awards reveal. In fact, many even used grand words like “lightning in a bottle” to describe the project.
“If there’s one project nobody in the industry is worried will fail, it’s yours. There’s no way this will flop.”
The former developer stated that even unbiased sources were more than optimistic regarding the first-person shooter, offering constructive but addressable feedback along the way. As far as Wildlight Entertainment was confirmed, the team had landed on a recipe for success.
Unfortunately, as the launch would later show, this could not have been further from the truth. Highguard was immediately labelled yet another live-service shooter by most audiences following its debut at The Game Awards, something Josh Sobel also addressed in his post.
Responding to this Twitter post, many have noted that there appears to be a huge disconnect between the industry and its audience. They find it surprising how testers or those in the know could sing such high praises of Highguard when looking at the larger landscape of live-service titles.
Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned in the discrepancy between Highguard’s critical and mainstream reception. It seems the gaming industry is still not sure what the general audience wants from it.
