Highguard has dominated the conversation lately, though mostly as a target for internet scorn. Honestly, I can’t blame anyone; the final product didn’t feel unfinished so much as it felt unfulfilled, like a vision that never quite came together.
Wildlight Entertainment started with a promising concept, but failed to evolve it into something players genuinely desired. ARC Raiders is the perfect example to illustrate my point.
ARC Raiders didn’t always shine; in fact, the released game was dramatically different from what the earlier betas and alphas had shown. Much of what we love about the game today was absent; it was a hollow husk. One that was shaped not only by additional development time but also by vital community feedback.
Therein lies the issue with Highguard: there was no feedback system. There were no open alpha or beta tests. It was a closed garden, only announced a couple of months prior to launch at the Game Awards show.
Made worse by the fact that the host decided to pump it up to his audience, both of which were partially funded by Tencent. But that’s for another article, maybe. Multiplayer titles, especially these days, are crucial to get right from the initial launch. Another game that’s seeing some resurgence after its failed Beta is Marathon.
Had Marathon launched in its previous state, the game would have crashed and burned without question. The internet and gaming community hated it, and rightfully so.
They’d stolen art assets, added or taken things away from the extraction shooter genre that were vital to the formula, and most importantly, it wasn’t fun. There were no solo lobbies, progression felt off, no proximity chat, and the AI enemies were incredibly easy to deal with.
That’s just for starters, as the whole combination of things I laid out, along with other things, including its hard-to-see art style, was a major turn-off for gamers. But again, Bungie was given the miracle of a beta prior to launch.
They took the reception on the chin, and now, months after fixing those assets, polishing gameplay, and actively listening to the community, Marathon is setting itself up for success come its server slam on February 26. There’s actual hype surrounding the game again.
Be that as it may, the success of Marathon isn’t guaranteed, but the future of the game is looking way brighter thanks to that feedback. Something Highguard was never given.
Studios need to develop for gamers
I don’t want this to get mixed up with the idea that I’m talking about the anti-woke crowd here. I don’t care about that stuff, or the weird fights they pick over the smallest things ever. What I care about is what gamers want.
In 2026, indie games are coming out at a record pace, while AAA games continue to take years to develop. Making a game today is far more dangerous than at any other point in gaming history, as gamer attention is more divided than ever across the space.
If you’re not developing or catering to those who would play your game, then you’re setting yourself up for automatic failure before launch. I mean, look at Concord.
Who that game was made for, I’m not entirely sure, but it’s clear that the title was a passion project by developers who truly loved what they were doing. The only problem is that they forgot about who would be playing and what those players would want.
If you’re going to work and develop a game for millions of dollars, you’d better be making it so people will buy it, or at least play it. Concord was another project developed without the outside feedback that mattered most: gamers.
When the beta launched, people called it what it was: a dud.
Highguard never even had a beta. Just from the trailers, people dubbed it “Concord 2.0”, and while that might sound harsh, it wasn’t exactly inaccurate. Sure, Highguard offered some stronger moment-to-moment gameplay than Concord, but it still felt like yet another generic hero shooter, blending elements from other genres instead of delivering something truly original.
I’m confident Highguard could have found real success if the developers had run closed tests with actual gamers. Inviting in fans of the genres they wanted to blend and genuinely collaborating with them could have resulted in a game people were excited to play.
So here’s some advice for developers: Involve gamers in your process from the start, or risk betting the livelihoods of your entire team. There are already plenty of studios that have laid off their staff or shut down completely; it should be a clear warning. Unfortunately, I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of it.
Here’s to hoping something like Fairgame$ and the other live-service games Sony is making turn out a little bit better. Or the games coming from Microsoft or Ubisoft down the pipeline aren’t just outright cancelled. Just listen to gamers, and the money will come.
What do you think Highguard could have done?
Did you play Highguard? Do you think beta or alpha testing with a larger group of gamers could have saved the title from its fate? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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