Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! The future for Highguard does not look bright. Developer Wildlight went through mass layoffs barely two weeks after launch, and if the game can stage a comeback at this point, it'll be something beyond a miracle. Today, however, a bizarre twist in the Highguard saga has emerged, as a new report suggests Chinese megapublisher Tencent financially backed the game. Tencent's TiMi Studio Group, which makes games including Pokemon Unite and Delta Force, "was the undisclosed lead financial backer" behind Wildlight, according to Game File. Exact details of the arrangement, including the amount of funding, when or if it ended, and why it was never publicly disclosed were not provided by the outlet's sources. Tencent has wide-ranging investments in a range of Western studios, including Ubisoft, Epic, and Riot, so the suggestion that it's involved in a project like Highguard isn't altogether shocking, but it is bizarre that the funding was never made public. Wildlight is "technically independent and not part of TiMi," Game File says. Highguard studio hit with mass layoffs as "most of the team at Wildlight" is let go New FPS from Titanfall devs shows signs of life after weeks of radio silence, and just days before its release date Highguard boss says "the toxicity is challenging," will "continue to ask" if The Game Awards reveal was right decision One account of Wildlight from a former developer describes it as an "independent, self-published, dev-led studio full of passionate people just trying to make a fun game, with zero AI, and zero corporate oversight." Whatever financial input Tencent might've had in Highguard's development, it seems that did not extend to creative input. Still, Tencent's financial backing was not enough to save Wildlight from suffering mass layoffs just over two weeks after Highguard was released. Whether the game itself shuts down remains to be seen, but players are treating the sudden disappearance of the official website as a massive warning sign. Whether Highguard was ever good enough to earn a chance – much less a second chance – is a matter of some debate, but the initially dismal Steam reviews did improve slightly and major updates did come quickly. Yet the game hasn't even had a month on the market before its investors started trying to cut their losses. The incredibly competitive world of online gaming is notoriously tough to break into for any new project, and day one success stories are rare. But between Sony's Concord, Riot's 2XKO, and now Highguard, it feels like the runway is getting shorter with every failure. If (alleged) Tencent money isn't enough to give developers a meaningful shot at finding their audience, I can't imagine what hope any big multiplayer game has in 2026. Our list of the best online games includes a few that never would've made it if they'd only been given weeks to live or die.