Wildlight Entertainment Reportedly Down to Skeleton Crew Following Disastrous Highguard Launch and Funding Shortfall

Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment has laid off most of its 100-person team after the game lost 90% of its players in one week and funding was cut.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 3, 2026, 4:12 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from GamesIndustry.biz

A Rapid Decline for a Highly Anticipated Independent Studio

The ambitious vision for Wildlight Entertainment appears to have collapsed following the troubled release of its debut title, Highguard. According to a report from Bloomberg, the studio has been reduced to a skeleton crew of fewer than 20 people, down from an original headcount of approximately 100. During an emergency all-hands meeting on February 11, leadership reportedly informed staff that the studio was "out of money," necessitating the immediate departure of the majority of the team. This sudden downfall is a stark contrast to the studio's formation in 2023, when it was presented as a "fully funded" independent venture led by some of the industry’s most respected veterans.

The Failure of the "Shadow Drop" Strategy

The collapse of Wildlight Entertainment is being largely attributed to a failed attempt to replicate the marketing success of Apex Legends. CEO Dusty Welch and several other co-founders were former Respawn Entertainment executives who had overseen the legendary 2019 "shadow drop" of Apex. Leadership reportedly insisted on a similar surprise launch for Highguard on January 26, rejecting internal suggestions to take the game through an Early Access period first. While the strategy initially generated a peak of 100,000 concurrent players, the momentum vanished almost instantly. Within seven days of release, the game lost 90% of its player base, failing to meet the critical retention metrics required by the studio’s financial backers.

Hidden Dependencies on Tencent and TiMi Studio Group

Despite CEO Dusty Welch’s previous claims that Wildlight was an "independent studio without the support of a big organization," investigations have revealed a deep financial connection to Tencent. The Chinese tech giant’s subsidiary, TiMi Studio Group, was reportedly the lead financial backer for the project. Former employees have suggested that their continued financing was strictly contingent upon hitting specific performance milestones—metrics that the game failed to achieve by a wide margin. When it became clear that Highguard would not maintain a sustainable audience, the funding was reportedly pulled, leaving the studio unable to maintain its operational costs or pay its large staff.