Tencent reportedly pulled out after Highguard’s failed launch, leading to financial trouble

The massive Wildlight Entertainment layoffs after Highguard’s failed launch have been further explained.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Tencent could be an “undisclosed lead financial backer” of the studio, which had previously stated it was working independently on Highguard. While not fully confirmed at the time, it did explain why Geoff Keighley was so desperate to hype up Highguard, since Tencent was also on The Game Awards’ advisory board.

We now have new details about Tencent’s relationship with Wildlight Entertainment.

Highguard launch failed due to “hubris,” some devs believe

In a report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, we have now learned that Tencent pulled its funding after Highguard’s horrific launch. This is what led to the studio’s mass layoffs. There are now just 20 people still working at Wildlight Entertainment.

According to Schreier, Tencent’s continued financial support was contingent on the game meeting certain metrics. Unfortunately, the launch didn’t go as the studio expected. Meant to be a shadow drop, the weeks leading up to the release became quite messy when the studio went silent after a sudden reveal at The Game Awards, followed by cringe hype from Keighley and then content creators that gamers felt were paid off.

During a February 11th meeting regarding Wildlight Entertainment’s lack of funding, some team members reportedly said that “hubris” led to the failed launch. Many felt that leading devs wanted to recapture Apex Legends’ success rather than acknowledge the current state of the shooter genre’s playerbase and competition.

Right now, there are less than 400 players remaining on PC. Despite updates and continued communication from Highguard’s team, the gaming community seems to have abandoned the game after the awkward launch.