Highguard, the “One More Thing” game that wrapped up The Game Awards 2026 — and subsequently became a rather controversial topic among gamers — is shutting down. It’s only been available to play for a month, having launched on January 26.
Wildlight Entertainment, Highguard’s developer, announced the news in a social media post, saying the game will “permanently shut down Highguard on March 12.” They will roll out one final update to the game, which will include, “a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees” before the servers shut down on that date.
According to the developer, more than 2 million players have tried the game out since launch, but “we have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term.” Reactions to the game have wavered between negative and supportive, with the Steam review score presently sitting at “Mixed.”
The game’s unusual development cycle included a splashy reveal at The Game Awards and then mostly radio silence up until launch. After launch, the team rolled out several gameplay fixes in response to player feedback. Then, not long afterwards, Wildlight confirmed that it had laid off most of the development team, and the most recent report from Bloomberg indicated that only 20 or so staff members left over.