Highguard Loses Nearly 90% of PC Players After Launch, Internet Has a New Lolcow

Highguard was released yesterday to mostly negative reviews on Steam, after a very quiet marketing period and a one-man party with Geoff Keighley.

Developed by the new studio, Wildlight Entertainment, the free-to-play “raid shooter”, Highguard, was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2025. The gameplay looked fine, not spectacular, but fine nonetheless.

However, Highguard wasn't well-received by the community, with YouTube reveal trailers being heavily downvoted. Did people just not like the look of the game? Sure. But when a 'one-last-thing' at The Game Awards turns out to be a new game from some of the developers who had worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends, you wouldn't be wrong for thinking, nay, hoping, it was Titanfall 3. But it was not.

Highguard closing out the show felt unwarranted, a spot usually reserved for a massive new IP or a highly anticipated sequel.

Highguard Was Released Yesterday To Negative Reviews

Highguard was released yesterday on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S to little fanfare. Fans across social media questioned the lack of marketing leading up to its release, but it looks like the lack of advertising may have worked in its favour, garnering some intrigue. But that intrigue did not last long.

As brought to our attention by Pirat_Nation, according to SteamDB, Highguard had impressive concurrent numbers at launch, with over 97,000 players. It’s worth keeping in mind that these numbers are for the PC platform only and do not reflect PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

However, within hours, that concurrent number dropped by around 44,000, but it’s gotten worse, much, much worse. At the time of writing, the concurrent player number according to SteamDB is just over 11,000. That’s a dip of 86,000!

Now of course, it's 11am. Most of us are at work, so we'll have to wait and see if the numbers jump up over the first weekend. We're really rooting for it. But you've got to say, that's a big dip.

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Gamers React to the Launch of Highguard

“BBC confirms Global Holiday to celebrate the release of Highguard,” joked TheSpiffingBrit on Twitter. “Economists say there is no point going into work because everyone is playing Highguard.” Now be careful, TheSpiffingBrit, the BBC might require a TV license for that post!

BBC confirms Global Holiday to celebrate the release of Highguard.

Economists say there is no point going into work because everyone is playing Highguard pic.twitter.com/gYVyiJfvCx

— The Spiffing Brit 🫖 (@TheSpiffingBrit) January 26, 2026

BartSieja shared a screenshot of the SteamDB numbers with a GIF of Grandpa Simpson entering and instantly leaving Mo’s Bar, referring to how quickly the concurrent players dipped.

Highguard pic.twitter.com/6IExszq3Ff

— Bartłomiej Sieja (@BartSieja) January 27, 2026

“Been playing Highguard for 30 mins,” tweeted maniadrone.

A final joke from Ultima that just really tickled me this morning.

Geoff Keighley spoke to IGN about Highguard and how much the game means to him:

“Highguard will be the most important shooter ever released and will shape the entire future of the games industry. I have not been as emotionally moved on this level by a project since Multiversus.” pic.twitter.com/eO1B22ecIF

— Ultima (@UltimaShadowX) January 22, 2026

Oh Geoff and Wildlight Entertainment. We're genuinely sorry Highguard launched to negative fan reviews. It feels a little bit like another Concord meme, destined to fail. I'll be playing it this weekend!

In terms of the reception from critics and fans alike on the aggregate score website, Metacritic, it’s too early for reviews to be published. But it will be interesting to see what those scores are at the end of this week.

Highguard is out now on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.