It’s not inherently strange for working folk to spend time away from their jobs over the holiday season. Nor is it inherently strange for the people behind Apex Legends to not give their game a ton of marketing buzz. After all, that method worked out for Apex.
But something about Highguard feels different. There’s something about how the game looks. About the name, so derivative of Overwatch. There’s the staleness of it all. And there’s the way that, in online discourse about the game, Concord’s name is invoked more often than Highguard’s.
And there’s something about the sheer silence. It’s not just ‘minimal’ buzz. Highguard took up the final trailer slot at The Game Awards. It’s introduction to the world was as loud as could be, and we have a release date of January 26th – very soon! After that… it’s nothing. Deafening silence.
What Has Highguard’s Studio Been Up To Since The Game Awards?
Where is Wildlight Entertainment? What are they doing as the game’s “hype cycle” enters the final stretch? Not much: As Forbes points out, Wildlight’s Youtube Channel and X Account are both completely inactive, save for the typical signal-boosts of what we already saw from The Game Awards.
With “nothing” being the firmly-conquered realm of speculation, theories abound. Two ideas lead the pack: one states that an imminent rework will come as a response to the backlash.
A reimagining like that would be quite extensive. A name swap away from something so Overwatch-like is one thing – but the game’s been criticized for its very genre. That, and how generic it all felt from the trailer. To pull this off, they’d need to start from scratch with so many core features, that it just may not be worthwhile.
The other Highguard theory is best described as ‘the only way to win is not to play’.
Finding positive reactions to Highguard is no easy feat. Discussions of the game are not hard to find, but they’re almost universally negative. The devs could simply have decided to not fuel that particular fire.
If that one’s true, then the game’s negative reception has essentially exiled it from social media. It’ll show up on release day as planned (hopefully), and we’ll see what happens from there.
In either case, the true deadline for this mystery is coming soon. The studio’s social media channels can stay silent all they want: January 26th has already been announced loud and proud. If the game’s not here by then, it’s delayed. And if it’s delayed without an announcement, then that’s just one more strange artifact to add to Highguard’s pile.
