The newly released title Highguard, which launched on the 27th, has seen its player base evaporate. While it appeared to generate significant buzz with nearly 100,000 concurrent players on day one, it plummeted to around 12,000 by the 29th, marking an 80% decline.

Highguard is a PvP shooter developed by Wildlight Entertainment, a studio founded by veterans from Respawn Entertainment. The gameplay revolves around 3v3 siege battles to destroy the enemy base. It features phases like base building, defensive facility placement, mounting horses to traverse the map for resource collection, competing for the 'Shieldbreaker' siege weapon, and finally, breaching the enemy's shield to destroy the core.

The game hit a peak of 97,000 concurrent players immediately after release, sparking hope for a fresh competitive shooter. Yet, it withered to 19,000 in just 24 hours, sliding further to 12,000 by the 29th. That is an 87% drop in only two days. Despite being free-to-play, the initial interest was quickly drowned out by a wave of harsh reviews.

User sentiment remains 'Mostly Negative' (with 28,372 reviews, 36% positive), mirroring the day-one reception. The complaints are numerous. Optimization is a primary culprit, with reports of frame drops even on even top-tier graphics cards, alongside server instability that leads to infinite loading screens and frequent crashes.

From a gameplay perspective, players argue that the maps are excessively large for a 3v3 mode, resulting in more time spent aimlessly galloping across empty terrain than actually engaging in combat. The gunplay also lacks any satisfying feedback. Furthermore, the game forces mouse acceleration, limits key rebinding, and restricts graphic settings, leaving players feeling that while the developers tried to mash various genres together, the overall polish is sorely lacking.