Tencent’s connection to one of this year’s most turbulent multiplayer launches is only now coming to light. And it couldn’t come at a more delicate moment.

A report from Stephen Totilo indicates that Tencent quietly served as the financial force behind Wildlight Entertainment, the studio that developed the free-to-play PvP shooter Highguard. The investment relationship had not been publicly detailed before, and neither company has issued an official statement addressing it.

However, the disclosure arrives just as Highguard is facing fresh uncertainty. Players attempting to visit the game’s official website were recently met with a stripped-down placeholder page featuring only the title’s logo and a brief notice that the site is unavailable. 

No timeline for restoration was provided, fueling speculation about the shooter’s stability. With reports of multiple layoffs from the gaming studio, the fans are fearing the worst - a shutdown of Highguard and its studio.

This marks potentially the second time that Tencent is shutting down a live service game. Back in 2024, they shut down Synced, another free-to-play game within a year of this launch.

This time, however, the game may not even make it to a year. And this only adds to the already shaky start to the PvP game.

Tencent-backed game never found its footing

The game’s first public appearance came during the closing moments of The Game Awards 2025. Instead of generating buzz, the reveal quickly drew skepticism. Viewers questioned whether the market needed another online-only live-service shooter, particularly one positioned as a free-to-play raid experience in an already saturated genre.

What followed was radio silence from the studio, during which online criticism snowballed. By the time Highguard officially launched in January, the narrative around it had already tilted negative.

At release, the numbers briefly suggested promise. Steam activity surged into five figures at peak concurrency, but the spike proved short-lived. Player engagement fell sharply within days. Even the post-launch additions, like new competitive modes, did little to restore the momentum.

Although it’s possible the outage is purely technical, in an environment where player retention and transparency are crucial, even small disruptions can amplify doubts.

For now, the game itself remains operational. But with player numbers diminished, staff reportedly reduced, and its website temporarily offline, Highguard finds itself at a crossroads.

What do you think? Is this simply a rough patch or an early signal that Tencent is going to pull the plug on the title?

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Written by

Ajitesh Rawat

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar