Wildlight Entertainment Studio, the developer of the acclaimed raid shooter Highguard, suddenly reduced most of its staff just 16 days after the official launch. The situation looks as strange as possible. Representatives of the company, however, immediately explained that they were leaving the “backbone” of the team in order to continue to support the project, which, by the way, was rolled out on January 26.
But the launch was powerful — Highguard became the final chord at The Game Awards in December 2025 and instantly attracted the eyes of millions. It’s not surprising, in fact, because the game is backed by former Respawn talents who gave us Titanfall and Apex Legends. At its peak, the project apparently gathered 97,249 users, but then, unfortunately, online began to decline.
However, Wildlight Entertainment did not sit idly by — they quickly implemented a 5-on-5 mode and added rating matches for hardcore fans.
“Today we made, let’s say, an incredibly difficult decision to say goodbye to part of the team, retaining only the main group for innovation and development of Highguard,” the developers officially announced on social networks.
Table of Contents
The impact of cuts in Wildlight on future game releases
Despite the assurances of support from the “backbone”, the development of games in the studio is now questionable. Layoffs of this magnitude often mean the hidden cancellation of titles that were in the pre-production stage. For Highguard, new projects within the franchise (mobile versions or spin-offs) may be frozen, as all resources are devoted to the survival of the main product. Fans’ expectations are now supported only by the official roadmap, but the actual release date of games and updates may shift due to a shortage of workers in QA and technical departments.
The causes of the game studio crisis in early 2026
The situation with Wildlight is not unique — it is part of a frightening industry trend. If the comparison with 2025 showed hope for stabilization, then the statistics of layoffs at the beginning of 2026 indicate the opposite. Electronic Arts, Sony, and Ubisoft-level giants continue large-scale optimization, closing entire divisions. The crisis of overproduction of session shooters has led to the fact that even projects from industry veterans cannot compete for the player’s time.
Insiders and internal causes of Wildlight problems
The sidelines of gamedev are full of rumors that the corporate culture in the studio could not keep up with the pace of the “raid” release. Anonymous sources point to internal conflicts between investors and creative management, which led to a sharp reduction in the budget immediately after the launch. These rumors confirm that the technical flaws at the start were just the tip of the iceberg of management problems.
The team, in general, is proud of its product. And I am grateful to those players who, despite all this chaos, remain in the community. Now LinkedIn is literally packed with posts about the departure of employees — it’s sad, of course. Joby’s former entourage artist Kyle Carmaker, for example, called those two and a half years in the studio a “crazy journey” with wild ups and downs. Although, in fact, he is still proud of Highguard — no matter what happens inside Wildlight.
Employee rights and support in case of mass layoffs
For hundreds of specialists, labor law is now in the first place. It is important for dismissed employees to make sure that the severance pay is paid in full according to the contracts. In the USA and Europe, the game dev trade unions are actively involved in the process, offering legal assistance. For those who are starting a job search in IT, experts recommend not to delay updating their portfolio, as competition in the labor market among ex-AAA-class developers is currently at its maximum.
Highguard development forecast and roadmap
While the remaining specialists are patching up the holes, all the fans’ attention is focused on Episode 2 — the update will probably be rolled out in March. By the way, back in January, the publisher showed a detailed roadmap of content for the next ten months. Will it help? It’s hard to say. In general, Highguard is now trying its best to stay afloat in this frenzied ocean of session shooters — and their methods of survival are radical.
