Highguard promised fast-paced hero shooter battles, but the launch shows that hype doesn’t always mean a smooth ride.
So, the big day was yesterday: Highguard finally came out. Before it came out, the Game Awards made a big deal out of it, calling it the big finale. Everyone who saw the reveal thought, “Who asked for this?” It’s time for studios to realize that live-service games are just cash grabs that we’ve all gotten tired of. And Highguard, as much as it had the highest of highs before launch, could also be susceptible to the lowest of lows.
Who actually wants another hero shooter live service game? The answer is not many, but here’s the thing: if you can get it right and pull in players willing to pay, you can make a serious amount of money. That’s why studios keep trying, even after failing. Remember Sony and Concord? One of the biggest flops in gaming history.
Yeah, so some of the people who worked on Highguard were part of Concord. That’s what you call failing upward. It’s a trend in the West that’s hard to ignore. You’ve seen it in other industries too. Recently, we talked about Christina Hodson, the screenwriter behind Birds of Prey and The Flash, now set to write the new DCU Batman movie.
Two mediocre movies, yet she’s getting another high-profile chance. The logic is baffling, but that’s the environment. Highguard is part of the same pattern. People take their failures, move on to a new project, and somehow get another shot, even when the first attempt was not up to par.
When you launch a game like Highguard, expectations are high.
But what happens when performance issues and connection problems dominate the experience? From how much I have played, I was met with constant issues—servers crashing, connection errors, and not enough players. And that’s a game designed for three-on-three battles across huge maps. You’d think there’d be plenty of combat, but instead, you get long stretches of walking with very little action.
At launch, Steam had almost 100,000 players at its peak. That sounds great, but a lot of people left right away because of the problems I just mentioned. And don’t forget, this is just Steam. Highguard is also available on PlayStation and Xbox, so the total number of players could be higher. However, the most important thing is not just the number of players, but also how many of them stay and how much money they make. Highguard is free to play, but players need to spend money in the game to be successful. But in this state, it will be hard to get even a penny from us.
The developers did respond to claims that the game was “dead on arrival,” but honestly, it didn’t help. Responding to posts calling your game out for performance failures just comes across as defensive. Many people on the development team have experience with this kind of behavior, which isn’t encouraging.
Looking at the launch, you see the classic problem with online-focused games: without solid servers, even a great concept can fail.
You need enough players to fill matches, and those matches need to work without crashing. Highguard had a hard time here, and the drop-off was huge. Most of the reviews are bad, pointing out technical problems and boring gameplay. There’s no denying it: players will leave quickly if you release a game like this and it doesn’t work right.
Some fans think the roadmap will help it. The developers have shared their plans for a year of new maps, characters, and modes. But history shows that roadmaps aren’t enough to fix a bad launch. Take a look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. It came with a roadmap promising content for an entire year, but the servers went down, and the players left. If Highguard doesn’t get its act together, it could end up in the same situation.
A lot of critics and journalists have come out in support of the game, but it seems like they’re more interested in defending the studio than the player experience. Many responses have attacked the criticism itself rather than explaining why the game might succeed or pointing out improvements outlined in the roadmap.
One call-out that stood out to me in particular was from Vara Dark, who didn’t hold back as she criticized Nathan Grayson for past conflicts of interest in gaming journalism. This is the kind of drama that reminds you this business is as much about politics as it is about games.
For you, the player, what matters is whether the game works and is enjoyable.
Right now, Highguard isn’t hitting that sweet spot. Connection and server issues, and barely any combat on big maps, create a sorry experience. And with so many similar games available, switching to a competitor is easy.
Despite this, there’s still a chance for Highguard to come back, but for that to happen, the devs have got to get off their “high” horse first and foremost. A strong word-of-mouth campaign could help, but only if performance issues are fixed quickly. The current reviews need to turn from mostly negative to positive, and the community has to feel like the game is worth investing time and money into. That sounds difficult but not impossible. Some games do recover from rough launches, but it takes actual improvements, not just hype or defensive messaging.
The launch also shows a bigger trend in the industry: people and teams tend to fail upward. Some of the team’s past mistakes clearly affect how they work on Highguard, for better or worse. With that kind of history, you have to wonder if lessons are really being learned or if the same things keep happening.
From a gameplay perspective, Highguard is ambitious but flawed.
The maps are huge, the three-on-three fights are meant to be intense, and the idea could be fun. But ambition isn’t as important as execution. Highguard’s launch experience is a warning tale that adds to a long list of similar stories (looking at you, Concord) that show how technical problems and unmet expectations can ruin even the most highly anticipated release.
So, if you’re thinking about joining Highguard, don’t get your hopes up too high. You’ll see what happens when a launch goes wrong and how important it is for developers to listen to players rather than make excuses. Highguard could still turn things around, but time is of the essence.
