A number of people who make video games have come forward to stick up for a new game called Highguard. This comes after the game has been getting a steady stream of bad comments from many players and even people who haven’t played it.
Highguard was a game that many people were really looking forward to. It was first shown off at The Game Awards last year. After that, things went quiet for a long time before they started advertising it a lot at the last minute. This made the game seem a bit mysterious right up until players finally got their hands on it.
When the game finally came out, a lot of players jumped in to try it. But right away, there were problems with getting games started. Over time, the number of people playing at once settled down to about 10,000 to 20,000, which is still pretty good. Even so, many folks kept on complaining about it.
The folks at 1047 Games, who made a game called Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, wrote on social media, “No game is perfect on day one (ours certainly wasn’t).” They added, “If you see potential, share feedback. It helps make the game better, and that’s something we should all be rooting for. There’s room for tons of great games. Wishing you success on Highguard, @WildlightEnt.”
The game Splitgate: Arena Reloaded has also had its share of tough criticism. It started as a smaller game that many people loved, then changed into a new version that caused more arguments. But the team at 1047 Games is still working to make their game better and add new things. This might be the path that Highguard will also take.
Thomas Puha, who handles talking to people for a company called Remedy, also shared his thoughts to offer some support.
He said he was “Tired of seeing headlines of how many players Highguard has lost. Like, sure, you can argue that’s putting facts out there, but I can’t escape the feeling there’s just this ‘celebration’ of a game doing badly and just putting out negative headlines for the sake of it. Shouldn’t us game devs even try?”
Then, Michael Douse, who is in charge of publishing at Larian, added his thoughts after Puha’s statement. “I remember standing on stage at DICE trying to see eye to eye with an executive audience who didn’t – couldn’t – figure out what they should be making, or even trying. It is funny in a way that the closer we all got to the audience, the further the industry got from understanding what it should be making. Caught in the crossfire of uncertainty are mistakes & the faces behind them.”
He continued, “But while they aren’t the cause of the mistakes, they are in fact the reason for any successes. It is easy to celebrate failure because there’s security in feeling right, but I hope everyone finds enough to cling onto to break that cycle of cynicism. Game development runs on optimism in contrast with economics. If the optimism & enthusiasm disappears at the same rate as the economics shrink, it’s gonna get messy.”
“Thankfully there are hyper engaged audiences and low-cost opportunities all over the place. It’s just getting much harder to cut through the noise.”
The big question in this ongoing talk about Highguard is where to draw the line between fair complaints and just ganging up on a game. It also brings up the idea that there’s a lot of negativity around the video game world these days. Do these game makers have a good point? We want to know what you think.
