Although Highguard's online presence on PC was almost 100,000 people at release, these numbers have now plummeted to 2-3 thousand. It got to the point where Wildlight Entertainment, the studio responsible for the shooter, made cuts, laying off most of the team.
However, PC Gamer, through its editor-in-chief Tyler Wilde, claims that the game is fine. Mr. Wilde released an article with the bold title "Highguard Hasn't Failed," in which he tries to convey to the public that not all games need a large online presence to be successful and thrive. Moreover, Highguard can only be considered a failure compared to recently released hits like ARC Raiders.
Commentators online laughed at PC Gamer and the article — the publication even received a community note with a link to an IGN article detailing the cuts at Wildlight Entertainment.
People speculate that PC Gamer either deliberately released an article with a "clickbait" headline for the sake of clicks, or that game journalists have completely lost touch with the gaming community.