In a message shared today, Wildlight wrote: “Today we made a very hard choice to say goodbye to some of our team members. We are keeping a small group of workers to keep making the game better and supporting it.”

The Highguard team said they are proud of the workers and the game they made. “We are also thankful to players who tried the game, and those who are still part of our community,” Wildlight said.

Wildlight did not say how many workers lost their jobs. But posts on websites like LinkedIn suggest it was most of the team. “Sadly, like most of the people at Wildlight, I lost my job today,” wrote Alex Graner, who designs game levels. “This really hurts because there was a lot of new content I was excited about that I and others made for Highguard.”

Josh Sobel, who works on game art, also lost his job at Wildlight. “It was the best team I ever worked with, and I never put so much of myself into a project before,”

. “I wouldn’t change the past 2.5 years for anything.”

In another post, Sobel said he “LOVED working at Wildlight” and now it’s “hard to think about going up from here.” He compared the news to the end of a relationship. “You can’t think about dating right after a breakup. It wasn’t just a job to me. 2.5 years of working toward a good future, with the most passionate and smartest developers in the world. We MADE THAT THING! Fast.”

“I don’t think gamers really understand how special this group of talented workers was. There were problems, like any new team would have, but our ability to get things done and change plans quickly was unmatched. I am very sad that this team as a whole can no longer be together,” Sobel continued.

“We did a lot, and I couldn’t be more proud. But it’s hard to believe it’s over. Hard to believe that this was the result of all our hard work. I wish the best of luck to everyone who still works at Wildlight.

“If the company grows again, I’ll be the first one to apply for a job.”

“I join my amazing Wildlight teammates in having lost my job,” said Alex Frostwolf, who handles social media for Highguard. “Highguard is our story: a group of talented, like-minded people on an adventure into the unknown. Just like our game characters who get back up after losing a fight, we too will rise again for our next adventures.”

Highguard was announced in December, ending The Game Awards show with a big trailer. The game was made by people who used to work on Titanfall and Apex Legends. When Highguard came out earlier this week, many players started playing it right away. But some people were not happy with things like the small maps and the 3v3 game style. The company tried to fix these problems with updates and patches, and also made the 5v5 mode a permanent feature.

Since its not-so-perfect start, other game companies showed support for Highguard. A company called 1047 Games said: “No game is perfect on day one.”