Highguard's player count has dropped to 1,200 on Steam today following the release of Wildlight

Highguard studio Wildlight Entertainment was hit with a mass layoff on Wednesday, likely due to its debut title not performing as well as it had envisioned. This only seems to have worsened Highguard's player count, as hours after news of the layoffs began to spread, the live game dropped to its lowest player count ever.

Highguard's Player Count drops through the floor upon dismissal

As of 1:00 a.m. EST today, for the first time in its short history, Highguard had less than 2,000 people playing on Steam, according to SteamDB. This number kept falling as more people than usual signed up for the night, bottom for around 1200 players a few hours later.

You'd think that since it's the middle of the night/early morning in the US, of course not many people would be playing Highguard. However, despite the steep drop in players right after launch, a few thousand of you stuck around on PC. Before today, even in the middle of the night, Highguard could always keep above 2,000 players at any given time.

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This sudden drop was almost certainly prompted by the confirmation that most of the team behind Highguard had been let go. It started with a single LinkedIn post sharing the news, but was joined by others within hours. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Highguard itself had been shut down suddenly, as those who confirmed they had been let go noted that most of the Wildlight team had received the same message.

For now, Highguard is still online and playable

No, Highguard is still online, and Wildlight released a statement confirming that work on the game will continue, supported by the core group of developers who still remain. How big that group is isn't clear, though the second part of Wildlight's statement, which reads, “We're also grateful for the players who gave the game a chance and for those who continue to be a part of our community,” sounds a bit like those still at the studio have at least partially come to terms with the fact that Highguard is coming to an end soon.

Whether those still playing Highguard assumed the game was shutting down when they heard this news, or decided it wasn't worth their time anymore after most of the team behind it just lost their jobs, it's hard to see a way back for Highguard after this. Everyone who still believed in the game seems to have lost it today, and with fewer people playing than ever, those numbers that Highguard desperately needs to survive just aren't going to come.