Highguard came out on January 26th as a free-to-play PvP raid extraction shooter. And now, in less than two months since launch, Wildlight Entertainment announced its cancellation.
A lot of players will call this the next Concord, or Concord 2.0. However, there is a big difference between Highguard and Concord. Highguard was played by 2 million people when it launched. Concord never came close to those numbers.
The truth is that Highguard is a really average game. As I’ve said multiple times, I’m not a fan of GaaS titles. I prefer single-player games. So, someone will say that I’m biased when I say that I found it boring. But you know what? Back in the 90s, I really enjoyed arena FPS games. I also enjoy playing Tekken 8 online (even though it has major gameplay and balance issues). But when it comes to GaaS, extraction shooters, or roguelikes, I’m not that excited about what they can offer.
Anyway, Wildlight Entertainment will shut down the game’s servers on March 12th. The team will also release a final update that will add a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees.
And that’s that. Another GaaS title that bites the dust. The next GaaS title on the horizon is Marathon.
Realistically, Marathon will not be a flop like Concord or Highguard. I don’t expect it to be as successful as the Destiny games, but I’ll be really surprised if it flops in just a few weeks or months. From what I’ve heard, pre-orders are quite good right now.
The big question is whether it will be something similar to Suicide Squad: Kills the Justice League. Will it last for a whole year/season? My guess is that it will. Still, I don’t expect it to set the world on fire as the most successful GaaS titles have done so far.
In conclusion, this is music to my ears as I’m a single-player gamer. So, let’s hope that the publishers will get the memo. GaaS titles are not a safe bet as they were a few years ago. But, you know what? Let them release even more. Let them spend even more money. And then, let them cry about their low sales. More developers will rise to give you what you want.
Stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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