US EditionFormer Highguard Developer Reflects on Disastrous Announcement and Launch: 'We Were Turned Into a Joke From Minute 1'
Josh Sobel details intense harassment, review-bombing with over 14,000 negative reviews, and layoffs following the free-to-play FPS Highguard's troubled launch and reveal.
- On February 12, Josh Sobel, former Wildlight tech artist and rigger, posted a candid reflection after working on Highguard for two and a half years, calling the reveal lead-up "amongst the most exciting" experiences.
- After the Game Awards 2025, Sobel said `But then the trailer came out, and it was all downhill from there`, blaming false assumptions about a paid placement.
- At launch, content creators and commenters amplified criticism and harassment, with over 14k review bombs from users with less than an hour of playtime, prompting Sobel to set his Twitter private.
- Wildlight let go all but a core group of developers two weeks after the January 26 launch, and Sobel warns former Wildlight staff will return to corporate roles, shrinking indie multiplayer games.
- Cliff Bleszinski, Mark Rein, and Swen Vincke defended Highguard amid backlash, while Geoff Keighley included the trailer without payment and Sobel thanked supportive journalists and creators.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Former Highguard Developer Reflects on Disastrous Announcement and Launch: 'We Were Turned Into a Joke From Minute 1'
A developer who worked on Highguard has discussed the "hate" he received after the free-to-play shooter debuted at December's The Game Awards, saying the game, and by extension its team, "turned into a joke from minute one, largely due to false assumptions about a million-dollar ad placement."
Former Highguard Dev Calls Out Players for "Slandering" the Game Before They Played It
Highguard is the latest free-to-play first-person shooter to hit the market, and if things keep going the way they are now, it'll also be the latest free-to-play first-person shooter that was shut down after being unable to break through as a massive hit right at launch. After its trailer at The Game Awards failed to land with players, and the weeks of silence that followed did nothing to help, when it arrived, before players even made it throug…
Highguard, after his game awards trailer, became an Internet hit, while a former wildlight developer reveals how hate waves, misconceptions, and review bombing forced the Indie project to its knees before the launch.
NewsGaming.net "Hate started right away": A former Wildlight developer reacts to the Highguard Highguard reception, it's not quite over yet, but it's just like that. Wildlight Entertainment announced a few days ago that it was doing a lot of layoffs in the studio, leaving only a team to ensure the future updates of the game. Among the licensees, Josh Sobel, "tech artist", who today shares his feeling about the situation by evoking the wave of ha…
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