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# What The Hell Are We Even Doing Here
- URL: https://aftermath.site/highguard-studio-developers-laid-off/
- Published: 2026-02-12T00:49:13.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-12T03:41:04.000Z
- Description: 'Most' of Highguard's development team has reportedly been laid off just two weeks after the game's release
- Author: Luke Plunkett
- Tags: highguard, layoffs, business, wildlight

Multiple developers from Wildlight, maker of the online shooter *Highguard*, have posted on Linkedin today that they've been laid off, just two weeks after the game's release.

[Sound designers](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7427501095955914752/?ref=aftermath.site), [gameplay engineers](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7427496511334277121/?ref=aftermath.site), [tech artists](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7427497173774225409/?ref=aftermath.site), [UI designers](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7427500304054693890/?ref=aftermath.site) and [level designers](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7427480816940892161/?ref=aftermath.site) are among those affected. While some have only shared their own personal status, two have said in posts that the layoffs impact "most of the team".

A statement issued by Wildlight says that "a number of our team members" have been let go, while a "core group of developers" works to keep "innovating on and supporting the game". 

> Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game.  
>  
> We're proud of the team, talent, and the product we've created together. We're also grateful…
> 
> — Wildlight Entertainment (@WildlightEnt) [February 12, 2026](https://twitter.com/WildlightEnt/status/2021745168387596450?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site)

If indeed "most" of the team has been laid off, so soon after release, that doesn't bode well for the future of a game that, despite some weird and very 2026 challenges, by all accounts seemed totally fine.

[Highguard Is Yet Another Symptom – And Victim – Of A Rapidly Decaying InternetIn an online ecosystem ruled by cynics, clip farmers, and ragebaiters (and built by those who seek to profit off them), Highguard never stood a chance of having a normal launch![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-137.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/highguard-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/highguard-release-steam-pc-concord-youtube-shadow-drop/)

This news hits the same week as[ news another game (Riot's *2XKO*) laid off developers just days after release](https://aftermath.site/2xko-riot-release-console-layoffs/), seemingly because of unrealistic expectations from studio leadership. The situation with Wildlight is different, though; the company had self-published *Highguard*, meaning whatever led to these layoffs, it wasn’t some publisher or giant company demanding numbers go up. 

A free-to-play PVP shooter, *Highguard* had a strong launch--around [100,000](https://steamdb.info/app/4128260/charts/?ref=aftermath.site#max) people were playing on Steam on its first day--but couldn't sustain those numbers, in ways that...look, you know what, why am I even talking about those figures, writers always do that when talking about layoffs like this, is there even much point trying to dissect the numbers of a game that took *years* to make, but where ‘most’ of the team gets laid off just two weeks after it came out? Loads of people are now reportedly out of a job, and whatever reasons people can offer or accept for it, none of it seems sane or sustainable.