Highguard’s high risk strategy fails to pay off
Plus, could a Pokémon spin-off be a Nintendo Switch 2 system seller?
Hello!
What? No Show this week? I know, I can only apologise. We had a few late embargo shifts. But don’t worry, next week is going to be huge. We’ll make it up to you.
But I’ve still got a nice newsletter for you, compiling my thoughts on the recent lay-offs at Highguard developer Wildlight. Plus, my Switch 2 optimism after reading the previews for the upcoming Pokémon spin-off Pokopia.
Enjoy!
What to make of the Highguard mistake?
Don’t be your own hype. Those were the five words uttered to me by a leading publisher less than a week before Highguard came out. They were surprised the game hadn’t had any beta, or public playtest, before its full release.
If you look at the live service games that managed to avoid a needless online backlash and actually amassed a large initial audience, it was (mostly) by letting the players in first. If your game isn’t 100% right (as Highguard apparently wasn’t), then you are given an early warning and a chance to course correct or make adjudgments. It’s what Bungie did after it let players try its upcoming Marathon game last year. The response wasn’t entirely effusive, so they delayed things to make some changes.
But if you do have something special, then you’ve got your first advocates, who will share your game and deliver the hype before you’ve spent a penny on marketing (and also defend the game, if needed). Play tests were a major part of what made Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 such big launches in October last year.
“Don’t be your own hype”
It’s not that you can’t announce a live service game and then just release it. If you’re one of those developers that like to “surprise and delight”, you’re not going to do that necessarily by letting people play it a year in advance. Apex Legends, which was the game most of the Highguard team worked on previously, succeeded exactly because it was a big, pleasant surprise for players that came out of nowhere.
But that was 2019. Today, that’s an immensely high-risk strategy in what’s become a saturated market, with a highly sceptical audience. Now, Highguard developer Wildlight may have had other reasons why it didn’t do any public testing. The fact they’ve run short of money so soon after launch suggests that perhaps the financial support wasn’t there for additional development time. Either way, the game has become a painful lesson for the entire industry on how to speak to gamers around titles such as these, and how best to release them.
What I will say about stories such as Highguard, is that these are often the result of choices made years ago. Highguard was a game that went into production in 2022, and a lot has changed in the last four years. In fact, many of the high-profile failures we’re seeing started development four, five or six years ago (even longer in some cases). The changes the industry is making today around team sizes, project duration, the scope of games, budgets etcetera… we won’t see the results of those changes for a while yet.
Inevitably, when we do see those changes, consumers will start bemoaning the sheer number of AA RPGs and shooters that are coming out. As is the nature of things. Perhaps the one thing to learn from Highguard is not to worry too much about trends at all.
That, and don’t be your own hype.
Advertisement
Is Pokémon Pokopia a Nintendo Switch 2 system seller?
Regular readers and listeners to The Game Business will know I’ve had a slight obsession over Nintendo Switch 2’s relative lack of must-have exclusive games.
People buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games. And although there’s clearly been a large contingent of Switch 1 players who wanted a more powerful machine to play their favourite games on (I’m one of them), what about everyone else?
Donkey Kong Bananza is incredible, but Donkey Kong isn’t the biggest Nintendo brand. Mario Kart World has a lot of promise, but there are 70 million people with Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, which some might argue is currently the better game (I’m not one of them). The rest of the big Switch 2 releases have either been relatively niche (Kirby’s Air Riders, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment), or they’re also available on Switch 1 (Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Metroid Prime 4).
We’re waiting for that next Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing or Smash Bros. The kind-of games likely to attract a broader audience to Nintendo’s new machine. The Switch 2 sales numbers are good right now, but I feel Nintendo could do with one, or two, of those huge franchises arriving before the year is out.
But… what if it’s something else entirely? Such as this new Pokémon spin-off that’s coming up in a few weeks: Pokémon Pokopia.
Pokémon spin-offs can be quite hit and miss, both in terms of quality and commercial performance. But on paper, this sounds like it ticks all the trend boxes. It’s Pokémon. It’s a cozy game. It looks like Minecraft. Plays a little like Animal Crossing. It’s like someone wrote down the ultimate Switch game, and it’s exclusive to Switch 2.
None of that matters if it isn’t well made, and Pokémon games have struggled with that in recent years. However, the previous that came out this week have been full of praise and optimism. One journalist told me yesterday that, despite not being the biggest Pokémon fan, he didn’t want to stop playing Pokopia when he was given the chance a few weeks ago. Another said: “I fully expect it to consume my year.”
According to US data firm Cricana, Pokopia is No.5 on its purchase intent tracker. But for a game of this type, it’s unlikely we’ll get a true sense of what it might do until closer to launch. 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus received such a late surge in interest that Nintendo hadn’t manufactured enough boxed copies and the game initially sold out.
It’s certainly one I’ll be keeping an eye on.
Meanwhile…
Bethesda’s Todd Howard, EA’s Laura Miele, Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford, Insomniac’s Ted Price, Kojima Productions’ Hideo Kojima, Respawn’s Daniel Suarez and our very own Geoff Keighley delivered a huge tribute to Vince Zampella at DICE. The development leader behind Call of Duty, Titanfall, Apex Legends and Battlefield 6 died in a car crash in late December.
1,200 Ubisoft employees took part in a three-day strike in protest of the company’s planned cost-cutting, which was announced on January 21. In addition to planned job cuts, Ubisoft is also requiring staff to return to the office five days a week.
Discord is rolling out age verification for new and existing users in March. However, for most adults the age verification won’t be required as the platform can ascertain their age based on account information, activity data and device-type.
Supercell reported a 4% drop in revenue to €2.65 billion for 2025. Meanwhile, the mobile giant grew its headcount by 30% to 890 employees. Clash Royale was the breakout success, with new players growing 500% across the year. However, the firm did shut down Squad Busters in October, 18 months after its launch.
Remedy Entertainment has appointed former EA executive Jean-Charles Gaudechon as its new CEO. Gaudechon will take the role from March 1, succeeding interim CEO Markus Mäki. ‘JC’ is a 20-year industry veteran and held senior roles at EA and CCP, mostly working on live service products.
Remedy posted decent results for its last financial quarter thanks to sales of legacy games Control and Alan Wake 2. However, the developer had a tough 2025 after the disappointing performance of its online game FBC: Firebreak.
Krafton posted a 22.8% increase in revenue for 2025, delivering an all-time high of over $2 billion. The number was driven by double digit growth for its PUBG franchise. Operating profit also rose to $717.5 million.
Riot Games is “downsizing” the team that had been working on 2XKO, the fighting game that only launched in January. Roughly 80 staff will be either transferred to other teams, or laid off with six months’ severance pay. The firm said the game didn’t see the overall momentum required to support the team size.
That’s it for today. Next week, we have a huge interview with some video game legends, and we’ll also debate the future of the industry. It’s a big week. See you then.
I feel like the self-hype behind highguard was in that they came up with a new game mode for an fps. That’s different, sure, but when the whole game is still an amalgamation of overused mechanics systems and techniques from other games, it’s bound to disappoint. A mode can only take you so far.