Laid Off Developer Speaks on Highguard Backlash

Former Josh Sobel, who worked on Highguard, has spoken publicly after losing his job during layoffs at Wildlight Entertainment.

He criticized the online reaction to the game, saying many people turned against it from the moment it was revealed.

A Rough Start From the Beginning

When Highguard was shown as the final surprise during the big awards show in 2025, the response online was quickly negative. Many viewers questioned why it closed the event, and criticism spread fast across social media.

Sobel said that from that moment, the team felt they were already fighting an uphill battle. He believes many people made assumptions about the game before even playing it.

Rumors also spread that the studio had paid Geoff Keighley for the final reveal slot. That claim was later proven false, but it still shaped public opinion early on.

Launch Problems and Review Bombing

When Highguard finally released, things did not improve. The game was heavily review bombed within hours. Sobel said thousands of negative reviews came from players who had barely played, and some had not even finished the tutorial.

Player numbers dropped quickly, and just two weeks later, Wildlight announced company wide layoffs. Only a small team remained to support the free to play shooter.

Personal Impact on the Team

Sobel shared that working on Highguard was important to him. It was his first shipped game after earlier work with Disney and DreamWorks. He had joined the studio nearly three years earlier and believed the project had a bright future.

He said he also received personal attacks online. Some people mocked his excitement for the project and even targeted personal details he had shared publicly. He described the experience as emotionally draining.

Blaming More Than Just the Game

Sobel admitted that Highguard was not perfect at launch and that criticism of the game itself was fair. Still, he believes the online culture around gaming played a role in its downfall.

He said he is not claiming the game would have succeeded without negativity, but he feels the scale of the backlash made things worse.

According to him, the team was a small independent group trying to build something fun, without heavy corporate control or AI driven shortcuts. He believes they at least deserved a fair chance instead of seeing people celebrate the game’s failure.