Highguard dev Wildlight Entertainment ‘fully funded’ by Tencent since 2022

Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment has reportedly been “fully funded” by Tencent and its studio group TiMi since 2022.

Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment has reportedly been “fully funded” by Tencent since 2022.

According to Game File, the studio behind the PvP raid shooter has been supported by the Chinese publishing juggernaut’s group TiMi for four year – with the outlet describing Tencent as the “lead financial backer”.

Game File claimed Wildlight was and still is “technically independent” from Tencent, adding the Chinese studio has a vast and expanding presence in funding Western game development, such as Riot Games’ League of Legends and Ubisoft’s Vantage Studios.

Highguard launched earlier this year following its reveal at The Game Awards, drawing attention due to Wildlight’s pedigree, which includes former developers from Titanfall and Apex Legends.

The free-to-play PvP raid shooter saw a strong influx of players at release, though it also faced criticism over map scale, pacing, and its original 3v3 format.

In response, Wildlight rolled out patches and updates, including making its limited-time 5v5 mode permanent in an effort to address player feedback.

Following its disappointing release, Wildlight confirmed it would undergo a round of layoffs last week – with just a “core group” of developers left to support the game.

The studio told Eurogamer it had “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”.

Wildlight did not confirm how many employees were affected, but social media posts from staff suggest the cuts impacted a significant portion of the team.

Level designer Alex Graner wrote that he was laid off “along with most of the team,” adding there was “a lot of unreleased content” he had hoped players would see.