When a trailer becomes a punchline

Remember Highguard? The shooter that stumbled into the public square and immediately tripped over its own trailer? Josh Sobel, a former tech artist on the Highguard team at Wildlight, popped back onto social media to reflect on his earlier, very salty takes from the game's chaotic launch window.

Sleep-deprived hot takes and a dose of reality

Back when the reveal at The Game Awards landed like a soggy firework, Sobel said things like it was "downhill since the trailer was posted." He still stands by the intent behind that comment, but admits he was stressed, devastated, furious, and running on maybe two hours of sleep—so his tone was sharper than it needed to be.

"I believe the online discourse around Highguard had some very dark corners that may have accelerated the timeline of our failure beyond the natural outcome of reasonable critique, but it wasn't the primary cause, and I don't personally believe the ultimate outcome would have been thoroughly different without it."

The layoff timeline and the shutdown

Sobel was part of the first wave of layoffs at Wildlight after the game's launch, which happened before the studio officially announced the shutdown of the project. So his perspective comes from someone who was on the inside while the whole thing unraveled.

Mob mentality: not the main culprit, but an accelerant

Let's be blunt: a chunk of the internet was ready to dunk on Highguard the moment it was shown. The timing and tone of the reveal—tucked into the closing moments of a big awards show—made it an easy target. For reasons that are equal parts performative and petty, many people leaned into mocking the game just because that felt fashionable.

Sobel thinks that nasty online discourse had real teeth. It didn’t craft every problem Highguard faced, but it likely sped up the collapse, turning critiques into a chorus of ridicule that didn’t help morale or optics.

Not a unique tragedy

This isn’t an isolated tale. Other games, like Marathon, have also faced lukewarm launches complicated by a crowd that seemed determined to watch them fail. Public schadenfreude is trending, apparently.

The bottom line

  • Highguard sank for multiple reasons: design choices, timing, reveal missteps, and probably business issues you and I will never fully know.
  • Online vitriol didn’t create the fundamental problems, but it almost certainly pushed the timeline—making things worse, faster.
  • Insider voices like Sobel’s matter because they’re close to the mess, and they’re telling us the failure was complex, not just a single villain to blame.

So, was Highguard doomed from the start? Maybe. Did internet pile-ons help topple it sooner? Almost certainly. If you played it and liked it, you know the culture around games can be merciless. If you didn’t, hey, more room for the rest of us.

Did you enjoy Highguard? Tell someone (politely) or shout into the void. Either way, the lesson stands: launching a game into a hungry, sarcastic internet jungle is hazardous work.