Geoff Keighley shouldn't be blamed for Highguard's failure, Larian publishing boss says: 'There are genuine villains in this industry but I just don't see them here'

Highguard: A character walking towards the camera and shooting his rifle at something off screen. — (Image credit: Wildlight Entertainment)

It's been a hell of a ride for Highguard, in all the wrong ways, and it crossed an ugly milestone last night when developer Wildlight Entertainment laid off "most of the staff" just 16 days after the game's release.

Doubtless, there are plenty of reasons for Highguard's failure to catch fire: Morgan Park probably nailed the core problem in his 65% review, declaring the game "is simply fine," which simply isn't good enough these days. But quite a few people on social media have been pointing fingers at the man who got the Highguard ball rolling just a couple months ago: Game Awards host Geoff Keighley.

Keighley, you'll recall, revealed Highguard to the world as the "just one more thing" at the 2025 Game Awards with a trailer that didn't exactly knock everyone's socks off. It was fine (in hindsight, we seem to use that word a lot when talking about Highguard) but a lot of folks wondered why it deserved the big TGAs closing spot—and, now that Highguard is floundering, some are suggesting that Keighley put unreasonable expectations on the game that contributed to its downfall.

It's a point Douse makes a few times in the thread: All else aside, Keighley put Highguard in front of exponentially more eyes than would have seen it otherwise. Does Highguard launch with almost 100,000 concurrent players if it shadowdrops with absolutely no buildup? Probably not. Would players be more likely to forgive its shortcomings if Keighley hadn't hyped it up so much? Again, I think that's very unlikely.

If anything, he gave Highguard the best chance it could haveThe problem was that the game wasn&rsquo;t that good (map too big for 3v3) and I believe it had some server problems on pc on day one Aside from that, companies seem to be pulling out much faster since the Concord fiasco — (Image credit: Eric Arrache/Michael Douse (Twitter))

As for why Wildlight decided to make a game like Highguard, which has been criticized for being derivative and lacking its own identity, in the first place, Douse said one major challenge facing developers is that "nobody knows what the fuck the world wants. If you don't already have an audience, you are genuinely throwing money into a void." Sometimes you come up with an Arc Raiders (or perhaps a Baldur's Gate 3), but more often than not, you don't.

"Maybe they just made the game they wanted to make," he wrote. "I don't KNOW but the idea that there are villains is just so weird to me. There are genuine villains in this industry but I just don't see them here."

In his own post following the Wildlight layoffs, Keighley called the cuts "an unfortunate, brutal, and sad outcome for a game I enjoyed in early playtest."

A large part of the Wildlight Entertainment team that worked on @PlayHighguard has been laid off, just 16 days after release.An unfortunate, brutal and sad outcome for a game I enjoyed in early play tests. - I think it's cool to give games you personally like a chance within your means. Publishers put out games they believe in and the majority, sadly, don't do the numbers they wished they did. The reality is that what we love isn't always successful. I hope they can move to success. — (Image credit: Geoff Keighley/Michael Douse (Twitter))

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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