Wildlight Entertainment has laid off multiple staff members just weeks after launching its free-to-play shooter Highguard, while keeping a smaller team in place to continue working on the game. The studio confirmed the layoffs in a statement posted on X, saying the decision to let go of “a number” of team members was “incredibly difficult.” A core group of developers will remain to support and update Highguard going forward.

“We’re proud of the team, talent, and the product we’ve created together,” Wildlight Entertainment said in the statement. “We’re also grateful for players who gave the game a shot, and those who continue to be a part of our community.”

The announcement follows a LinkedIn post from Alex Graner, a former level designer at Wildlight, who revealed he was among those laid off. Graner said “most of the team at Wildlight” was let go alongside him.

“This one really stings as there was a lot of unreleased content I was really looking forward to that I and others designed for Highguard,” Graner wrote in his post.

Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game.

We’re proud of the team, talent, and the product we’ve created together. We’re also grateful…

— Wildlight Entertainment (@WildlightEnt) February 12, 2026

The layoffs come just over two weeks after Highguard launched on January 26. The first-person shooter was only revealed to the public in December 2025 at The Game Awards, giving the game a relatively short marketing window before release. Wildlight Entertainment has not specified how many employees were affected by the layoffs or how large the remaining support team is.