Is Highguard a dead game after its chaotic launch? Here’s what the numbers say

Highguard honestly didn’t have the release I expected. After playing the game at Wildlight Entertainment’s launch event, I felt it was a pretty solid, fun game created by passionate developers that wanted to bring something new to the shooter space. It needed some improvements, sure, but it was enjoyable and promising.

When it came out, however, the gaming community was pretty angry about the studio’s silent marketing tactic, followed by what seemed like paid content creator promotion. The strategy backfired, causing gamers to flood Steam with negative reviews after 10 minutes of gameplay.

Do I agree that the game had some performance issues? Yes, although it worked smoothly for me. The Warden designs are also a bit lazy, and the pacing can be a little off-putting. But it didn’t seem worthy of the coordinated attack.

Have people stuck around after Highguard’s troubling launch?

How many people are playing Highguard now?

As of late morning on January 29th, over 6,900 people are playing Highguard. This is a massive decline after the 97,000-plus peak during its launch, according to SteamDB. However, this number was inflated due to streaming, hype, and controversy.

It’s a big drop, sure, but is Highguard in trouble? I don’t think so. At least not yet.

The issue is more that gamers already have their favorite games, and Highguard didn’t make them stop playing those. The Wildlight Entertainment developers told us that they weren’t really planning to make gamers choose between games. They weren’t trying to replace existing favorites.

Instead, they wanted to create something that could be played alongside that when gamers felt like it – and the consensus is still out on that.

But when you compare Highguard’s numbers to well-established games taking up the shooter space, it does seem like the new raid shooter may struggle to come back from the launch fiasco. Marvel Rivals has well over 101,500 players, ARC Raiders has over 252,900, and even Battlefield 6 has over 53,800 players.

Deadlock, which is releasing new content right now, has over 53,600 players. This has continued the “rivalry” in gamers’ minds between Highguard and Deadlock. And it looks like Deadlock is winning.

I don’t think Highguard is dead or dying. But I do think it’s not quite the success that its creators thought it would be after years of shaping a game they could be passionate about. I think gamers should have given it a fair shake before throwing a fit over some content creators being suck ups on X, but I do think Highguard has a lot of powerful competition.

Which may spell its end if developers don’t act. Fast.