Highguard's player count has already plummeted by 80%

Highguardthe debut game from Wildlight Entertainment, has already seen a huge drop in players, but it's still far too early to count it out. Highguard was the “one last thing” announcement at The Game Awards 2025, which didn't really do the new live service game any favors. Placing it in that spot only led to disappointment and frankly didn't give the game a fair shot in the public eye, with many quick to compare it to PlayStation's failed Harmony experiment.

One of the fascinating things about Highguard was how quickly its release date would come after the announcement. Highguard launched just over a month after it was first revealed to the world. Despite the extreme online criticism leading up to its release, Highguard attracted thousands of players, which ultimately overwhelmed the game and led to some serious technical and matchmaking issues that caused it to bomb in reviews (among other reasons, like the simple fact that the game is a hero shooter).

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All characters in Highguard

Highguard is a challenging PvP Shooter Arena, and knowing every Warden in the roster will help you reach the top! Check out this complete character guide!

Highguard Steam Player Count Chart

Whether it was the unfortunate technical issues at launch or the negativity surrounding the game, HighguardThe number of players has already taken a huge hit. Upon release, Highguard peaked at 97,249 concurrent players, according to data from SteamDB. The game's most recent 24-hour peak has it at 19,296 concurrent players. This is a reduction of about 80%and if we go by who is currently playing the game as of this writing, it paints an even bleaker picture, as there are only 11,500 people online right now (2:30pm CST Wednesday, January 28). Although this may worry those who actually like Highguardit's not all doom and gloom. Remember HarmonyThe number of players didn't even break an all-time high of 700, so Highguard is still far more successful than that game.

Something that should work very well in HighguardThe advantage is that it is a good, free to play game, while Harmony was $40. Highguard suffers from the same monetization pitfalls that many other live service games do, but the core gameplay is a lot of fun, with solid shooting action and a unique Frankenstein's monster of FPS gimmicks that all add up to an exciting experience. Word of mouth can eventually turn around Highguards advantage and draw more people to the game over time.

There are no figures for Highguard on consoles, so it's unclear how the game will perform on PS5 and Xbox.

Wildlight Entertainment also has aggressive post-launch plans Highguard which has already been clarified. HighguardThe 2026 roadmap suggests that there will be frequent and extensive content updates for the game throughout the year, with a new playable character being added every two months or so, along with plenty of other content.

The real first big test for Highguard and its potential for long-term survival come this weekend. Highguard launched on a Monday, which is hardly a day for peak hours. If Highguard updates get matchmaking and other technical issues under control, the game could very well enjoy a successful weekend that draws in new players and keeps current fans engaged.

Of course, that is also possible Highguards player count will continue to decline, and the game will eventually meet the same fate as Harmony and other live-service shooters that have shut down over the years. But even if it happens, Highguards player base is strong enough out of the gate for it to survive much longer than Harmony. Regardless of whether it has the legs on something similar Monitoring remains to be seen, but it will definitely be interesting to see how the game develops over the coming months.