Game Launches, Then Fires Most Team Before Players Can Rage Quit
KEY POINTS
- •Wildlight Entertainment launched Highguard just over two weeks ago, entering the multiplayer shooter arena.
- •Due to undisclosed challenges, the company laid off most of its staff, according to former employees' LinkedIn posts.
- •Wildlight stated it retained a core group specifically to continue innovating and supporting the game moving forward.
Wildlight Entertainment, fresh off launching Highguard—an exclusive 'multiplayer shooter' cooked up by veterans from Apex Legends and Call of Duty—has made a strategic pivot barely two weeks post-launch by laying off 'most of the team,' according to level designer Alex Graner and lead tech artist Josh Sobel via LinkedIn gossip. The move, described as an 'incredibly difficult decision,' conveniently keeps only a 'core group' to 'innovate and support' the game, like digital miracle workers. Apparently, the company is now pioneering 'launch-and-layoff' game release models, ensuring players can barely get mad before their devs vanish.
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Wildlight just launched a game and immediately played 'Who Wants to Keep a Job?' Spoiler alert: most lost. Multiplayer shooters now include multiplayer layoffs.
Launching a game and then laying off most of your staff in two weeks is the new gamer DLC nobody asked for.
Why finish a game when you can start firing the team? Wildlight's innovation might kill more than just your player base.
Source: Theverge | Published: 2/12/2026 | Author: Jay Peters
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