Remember Wildlight Entertainment’s Highguard? It’s okay if you don’t – despite closing last month’s The Game Awards with a release date for January 26th, the free-to-play PvP raid shooter has fallen off the face of the Earth. No new gameplay, no overview trailer, no global release timings – nada. With disappointment over its inclusion as the show’s final reveal, the “DOA” talk has only increased due to the lack of updates.
Whether you agree or disagree on how generic it looks, the decision to feature it last apparently wasn’t the developer’s. Forbes’ Paul Tassi recently heard that, “Highguard did not actually pay for that Game Awards finale spot.” It was apparently “just the show putting it there.” Some theorize that it’s due to host and producer Geoff Keighley enjoying the game and wanting to highlight it.
There have certainly been worse reasons, but whatever the case may be, it would make sense. Established in February 2023, Wildlight is fairly sizable (over 100 developers) based on its official website, but Highguard doesn’t have the backing of a major publisher. It probably didn’t expect such a harsh response, tempered as it is by those expecting Half-Life 3 or some other bombshell announcement, but alas.
If the release is still indeed on for next week, Highguard will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
