Highguard’s Website Remains Offline, Leaving Its Future in Doubt

All is not well in the world of Highguard. Following a tumultuous launch and a significant wave of layoffs at Wildlight Entertainment, the official website for Highguard has gone offline. Instead of a standard 404 error, visitors are greeted with the Highguard logo and a message stating, “Site Unavailable. This site is currently unavailable. Please contact support@codethirtytwo.com for assistance.” The site appears to have gone down between February 16 and 17.

While Wildlight Entertainment’s main website remains active, it underwent maintenance around the same time as the Highguard site went dark. The “About” section, which included team bios and company information, has been completely removed, along with the “Join Us” section that previously listed job openings. The only parts still accessible are the homepage, the Highguard section (which links to the now-defunct Highguard website), and the “Contact” page.

Inquiries about the status of both websites and the game itself have been made, especially in light of reports suggesting that much of Highguard’s funding came from a secret partnership with Tencent. However, a representative from Wildlight’s PR team has chosen not to comment.

On social media, players are preparing for the worst. A popular account on X, known for sharing gaming leaks, posted a screenshot showing a Highguard Discord moderator, WL_Coronach, responding to a player’s question about the website. This message has been verified as authentic after checking the official Highguard Discord server.

“Not sure on the timeframe, but basically needs to be transferred and simplified,” WL_Coronach stated regarding the Highguard website. “Low priority atm (reputational damage already done). Now we just need to focus on delivering updates and content to improve.”

Given Wildlight’s hesitance to publicly address the various challenges facing the game, this message offers the clearest insight into the studio’s plans for Highguard’s future. According to WL_Coronach, the small team still at the studio intends to continue providing updates. However, with most of the development team laid off, former Wildlight character concept artist Cristina Laviña Ferez has indicated that some of Highguard’s planned characters may never make it into the game.

“I’ve got permission from Wildlight to show future content,” Ferez shared on her ArtStation page, showcasing a character named Onyx. “Unfortunately, Onyx may never see the light in Highguard, but she deserves a fair introduction.”

Ferez, who previously designed characters for Apex Legends, created Highguard character designs from scratch over two to three weeks per character while also leading the game’s microtransaction team. Like many of her colleagues, she was laid off from Wildlight on February 11, just over two weeks after the game’s January 26 launch.