Highguard announces that 5v5 raid mode is permanent

After a surge over the weekend where Highguard players were counting on PCs to jump off the deep end for something to build on, largely thanks to the introduction of the 5v5 Raid mode, which was originally billed as a “limited time event”, developer Wildlight Entertainment has decided to make the 5v5 mode a permanent part of Highguard moving forward.

In a post shared on social media, the team acknowledged the mode's popularity helped make the decision.

“We appreciate everyone who came out and tried the mode over the weekend. We saw a fairly even split between 3v3 and 5v5, which helped with our decision.”

The need for something bigger than 3v3 or the introduction of bots or other fodder has been one of the biggest talking points since the release of Highguard last Monday. At the end of the week, Highguard introduced the mode amid a barrage of negative reviews and a free-falling player base.

However, something changed over the weekend, as the live-service title managed to maintain a somewhat stable number on PC.

a tall guard figure before the badge of a weak critic.

Good news for Highguard fans, it's not the worst reviewed game of 2026

The Highguard reviews are starting to hit, and while they are bad, they could be a lot worse.

After launching with 97,249 players and after bottoming out in the few thousand, Highguard has seen consistent concurrent counts between 11 and 13,000. Make no mistake, it's still nowhere near where things were at launch, but it's certainly better.

Those who played Highguard are happy with the news

Fans on Reddit have been celebrating that 5v5 will be a permanent feature moving forward. This should come as no surprise as players who have actually gotten into the game seem to be enjoying it.

“Definitely made a very big difference,” wrote one user. “The games were faster and more furious. I still have a lot of problems with the game, but this is a good step.”

“That's really super impressive,” wrote another player. “The ability of the developers to keep their finger on the pulse of the community and make changes accordingly and quickly is something you don't see very often in the industry these days. They deserve credit for their response.”

Elsewhere, its former status of “Negative” on Steam has moved to “Mixed”, a result of more people getting involved with the game. There's undeniably a lot of work ahead, but it's a positive step for one of gaming's biggest stories to date.