‘Sweaty’ 3v3 Competitive Focus Was Highguard’s Fatal Flaw, Says Ex-Lead Designer as Tencent Pulls Funding

Senior-level designer Alex Graner claims Highguard’s insistence on high-stakes 3v3 team play alienated casual players, directly contributing to the game’s rapid decline and layoffs at Wildlight after Tencent abruptly withdrew funding.

Former Highguard lead designer Alex Graner has publicly attributed the game’s demise to its overwhelming focus on sweaty 3v3 competitive gameplay, which he says “was the biggest thing that turned a lot of players off Highguard.” Just two weeks after launch, Tencent, the covert financial backer of Wildlight, pulled funding, leading to extensive layoffs and leaving fewer than 20 staff at the studio. Graner made these revelations in a candid interview on the Quad Damage podcast, a day after Wildlight confirmed significant staff cuts in the wake of disappointing launch metrics.

Graner offered an unfiltered post-mortem of Highguard’s design philosophy, stating, “Throughout development, we really leaned into the competitive side of it, and that was always one of my biggest fears as a player.” He explained how the game’s rigid 3v3 requirement created a steep barrier for casual players: “3v3 duos is always the sweatiest version of anything like battle royale, objective modes, wingman, you know it, you name it. It requires such a high intensity of communication with your team, and team play that it doesn’t leave much room for casualness. I think that was the biggest thing that turned a lot of players off Highguard.”

Graner drew a clear distinction between Highguard and successful shooters like Apex Legends, noting, “Apex Legends came just as battle royales were a kind of an up-and-coming mode and was really easy to understand after you played one game, which is why it was so successful. Conversely, Highguard was a little more complex.” He described the new player’s experience: “Highguard has all these different rules and stages, it’s like, ‘Oh, you want to loot, now we’ve got to chase this objective, now we have to plant this objective, now it’s overtime… It has all these rules, which I think works at a really high level, but when players are first coming in, it’s a lot to grasp.”

He identified a core problem with onboarding, stating, “On top of all that, because it was 3v3, that kind of game just requires high-skill movement and shooting, which is already a pretty high [bar to] entry as well. So if you just have a few bad games or your teammates aren’t sticking together, you’re just going to get rolled, and it’s very hard to 1v2 in our game. It’s all designed to be a team-based shooter. I think that was the biggest thing. People just kind of turned it off because they didn’t have the team.”

This rigid requirement for teamwork and communication not only raised the skill threshold but discouraged solo and casual players, a demographic critical to building early traction for free-to-play shooters.

According to reports, Tencent withdrew funding from Wildlight less than a fortnight after Highguard’s launch. On 27th February 2026, staff were summoned to a company-wide meeting and informed of immediate layoffs due to Tencent’s departure, allegedly because launch performance didn’t meet undisclosed metrics. Wildlight confirmed “layoffs” the following day, declining to specify numbers but insisting a “core group of developers” would remain on Highguard. Industry sources estimate fewer than 20 employees are left at the company.

The extent of Tencent’s financial involvement was not publicised prior to the layoffs. It was only days later that Game File confirmed Tencent had been quietly backing Wildlight. The reasoning behind the secrecy surrounding Tencent’s involvement has not been disclosed.

Key Facts and Timeline:

• Highguard launched as a free-to-play team shooter with a strict 3v3 core competitive mode.
• Players and designers flagged the steep skill and teamwork requirements as a turnoff for the broader player base.
• Alex Graner, senior level designer, stated: “People just kind of turned it off because they didn’t have the team.”
• Tencent withdrew funding approximately two weeks post-launch, triggering broad layoffs at Wildlight.
• The company confirmed workforce reductions but retained a “core group” for ongoing development; industry estimates suggest fewer than 20 staff remain.
• The depth of Tencent’s role was not revealed to the public until after the fact.

The Highguard episode underscores how competitive design decisions and hidden financial dependencies can rapidly undermine high-profile games, particularly when onboarding and community building are neglected. As Graner summarised, the intense 3v3 focus left too little room for casual play or solo experimentation, a lesson likely to be scrutinised by future free-to-play shooter projects.