The recent Game Awards ceremony had its share of memorable moments, but one decision that continues to spark discussion was the choice to close the show with a brand new live-service hero shooter. The debut trailer for this project, titled Highguard, didn’t exactly set the world on fire with its initial reveal. However, the developers behind it are former members of the teams that created Titanfall and Apex Legends. Because of their impressive track record, many believe these creators deserve the benefit of the doubt. This is why we are keeping a close eye on Highguard as it approaches its launch date of January 26th.
Just a few days ago, we learned some interesting news regarding the show’s selection process. According to reports, the showrunner Geoff Keighley was so impressed with what he had seen of Highguard that he offered the development studio, Wildlight Entertainment, that final slot at the ceremony completely free of charge. If you take a look around social media, you will notice that the conversation has slowly started to shift. People are beginning to ask, “What if Highguard is actually good?” This change in tone comes after the initial trailer was viewed as merely average. After all, both Titanfall and Apex Legends are considered among the best feeling first-person shooters we have experienced in recent years. It is possible that the marketing for the game simply has not been effective enough yet.
There was nothing particularly offensive about the first look at Highguard; it simply looked fine. The problem is that “fine” rarely cuts it in today’s competitive gaming market. The shadow of the game Concord, which failed spectacularly in 2024, still looms over the entire hero shooter genre. Fans of first-person shooters have been wondering why we haven’t heard anything from the official channels since The Game Awards took place. The official website has been running a countdown, certainly, but where is the excitement? Is Wildlight Entertainment trying to pull off a surprise launch inspired by the original Apex Legends drop?
Information from SteamDB’s update history suggests the game is alive and well, and it is on track for its launch next Monday across both PC
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Across platforms like X, formerly known as Twitter, and BlueSky, YouTubers, streamers, and other notable names in the gaming industry are beginning to believe in the game once we actually get to play it. On January 17th, Chris Person from Aftermath posted that he is half convinced the game is going to be good, noting that too many people have bet on it failing. If we look at past examples of games that a portion of YouTube creators dogpiled on, we might conclude that Highguard’s chances of success could actually be solid.
In any case, the actual marketing strategy for the game might simply be the absence of any official marketing. Surprisingly, this has led to viral tweets and posts where people closely examine a single paragraph of information. Some have even speculated that the game’s files might contain the executable for the classic game Tribes 2. This reminds me of the old days of collective excitement and anxiety over shocking online game launches, and that is not a bad feeling to have returning.
