Highguard Developer Faces Harassment from Toxic Players, Deletes Post on the Issue

Last week, Josh Sobel, a recently laid-off developer from Highguard, shared his feelings about unveiling the game at the Game Awards 2025, only to see a wave of negativity flood in from parts of the gaming community leading up to its January launch. He pointed out how some individuals seemed to take pleasure in predicting the game’s failure. The backlash to his candid reflection on his experience was so intense that he ultimately deleted his post and his entire account.

Sobel expressed, “I’m not saying our failure is solely due to gamer culture or that the game would have thrived without the negative discourse, but it definitely played a part. All products are subject to consumer whims, and the effort put into disparaging Highguard was immense. And it worked.” He shared this on X on February 12, shortly after Wildlight Entertainment announced significant layoffs.

His comments ignited a fresh wave of criticism from a mix of frustrated gamers and social media users who seized the opportunity to label Highguard’s developers as out of touch. They accused them of deflecting blame for creating a game that failed to resonate with many players. Similar to the situation with Concord, some began digging for any posts from Highguard’s team to ridicule both the individuals and the game itself.

Update:

Josh Sobel has now completely removed his X account just days after posting an article attributing Highguard’s failure to gamer backlash.

It seems the deflection didn’t go as he had hoped.

A few things can coexist in this scenario. According to data from Ampere Analysis, around 1.54 million players tried Highguard last month, which is comparable to the launch numbers of Palworld. This indicates that while many players gave Highguard a shot, they didn’t stick around. This sets it apart from the indifference that surrounded Concord. It also suggests that despite the negativity on social media, Highguard had its chance to attract a larger audience but couldn’t make it happen.

However, it’s also true that anyone who followed Highguard’s launch would have thought the developers were promoting the game in the most chaotic way possible. Thousands of negative reviews from players who barely engaged with the game flooded Steam, and many were eager for a repeat of the “Concord 2.0” disaster.

Even if you disagree with Sobel’s claim that a wave of bad-faith negativity impacted the game, it’s unfortunate that it unfolded this way. It’s also quite strange. Another point Sobel made, especially considering he had just lost his job on a project he was passionate about, was that Wildlight Entertainment wasn’t a massive publisher simply chasing trends based on data. Highguard wasn’t a live service game crafted in a corporate lab.

Not every game can succeed, and even the best can fail. But you can’t advocate for innovation in game development while simultaneously launching witch hunts against those who take risks you don’t agree with.