"I'm not saying our failure is purely the fault of gamer culture and that the game would have thrived without the negative discourse, but it absolutely played a role. Standing up for his colleagues, and expressing pride in their work, the post received the expected levels of irony."
"I was stressed, devastated, angry, and running on 2hrs sleep. It was not wise to take my pain to the internet in that volatile state. Sobel explained his reasoning for deleting the original post and reactivating his account after it faced deletion."
Highguard launched January 26, 2026, and closed March 12, 2026, after just 45 days. The rapid failure sparked widespread discourse and criticism. Josh Sobel, a Wildlight developer who lost his job following the release, posted on X about his experiences, including abuse received on social media and the role he believed hostile audience behavior played in the game's failure. He stated the negative discourse "absolutely played a role" in the outcome. His post triggered further hostility from those offended by the suggestion, leading him to deactivate his account. Sobel has since reactivated his account and characterized his original post as a mistake made while stressed, devastated, and sleep-deprived.
Read at Kotaku
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