It is no secret that Highguard had a critically rocky launch. What had been a secret — till right this moment — is the place the struggling “raid shooter” bought its funding. The sport’s developer and writer, Wildlight Leisure, has repeatedly referred to the sport as “absolutely funded,” however by no means disclosed {that a} majority of that funding got here from China’s gaming powerhouse Tencent. In response to nameless sources who spoke to GameFile journalist Stephen Totilo, Tencent was the sport’s greatest monetary backer.
Tencent is the world’s largest online game firm, with a large funding portfolio together with video games like PUBG Cell and League of Legends. It additionally holds stakes in quite a lot of worldwide gaming firms, together with Epic Video games, Ubisoft, and lots of extra. Per nameless sources conversant in the association, TenCent’s TiMi studio group was accountable for backing Highguard‘s improvement. The explanation for the secrecy concerning the association is unclear, and it isn’t recognized precisely how a lot TiMi contributed to the challenge, although Totilo’s sources point out it was a big quantity of funding.
Highguard was first introduced by way of a trailer throughout the finale of 2025’s The Sport Awards, a spot which Wildlight says was supplied to the studio free of charge by host and creator Geoff Keighley. Keighley gave the impression to be fairly excited in regards to the upcoming recreation, which he personally playtested. Tencent senior vp Steven Ma is a member of The Sport Awards’ advisory board.
Neither Wildlight Leisure nor Tencent have disclosed the partnership publicly, and whereas we do not know precisely how a lot it value to make Highguard, one can think about it wasn’t low cost. The sport launched with in depth plans for future seasons, superbly animated lore cinematics, and appeared poised to proceed rolling out updates regardless of largely destructive reception from gamers. Wildlight has two bodily places, one in LA, one other in Seattle. Till latest layoffs lowered it to a skeleton crew of builders, the studio had about 100 workers, a lot of whom have been former Respawn Leisure builders. It is unclear if Tencent performed an element within the studio’s determination to put off so many workers so quickly after launch. Earlier right this moment, Highguard‘s official web site appeared to have been taken offline.
Reps from Wildlight Leisure didn’t reply to Polygon’s request for remark.
