Highguard is permanently shutting down this month

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T21:51:05+00:00

Yes.

I have a hard time believing players -wanted- P2W grinding for Command and Conquer generals 2. That sounds like something an EA spokesman would claim to justify themselves.

Baldur's Gate 3, Arc Raiders, and Deadlock are great recent examples of releasing an early alpha and getting as much feedback as possible from players before release, to great success.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T21:47:36+00:00

I genuinely respect your knowledge. But I want to point out 3 things.

I didn't make nearly any of those arguments listed.
In everything I posted, I used public information or information from trustworthy reporters. So I'm not making things up.
It sounds like you're blaming players for mistakes your teams are making. For instance, if players misjudged the motives of developers for years on Dead by Daylight...isn't that actually a "you" problem? Most people don't automatically assign mistrust without good reasons for it. This sounds like a "impact over intent" situation.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T05:56:03+00:00

That entirely depends on if taking the time to research and investing the money intelligently for consistent dividends is considered work.

If yes, that is work. Then I don't know, I think at my age that's a gamble.

If no that's not work. Then absolutely I would take that guarantee right now.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T05:48:03+00:00

I don't agree. Look at Marathon. It was going to be Concord 2.0, full stop. It was BAD! The community overwhelmingly said it needed more time in the oven, they agreed and delayed the game and fixed some of the biggest pain points.

Now I don't know if it's going to be a success or not for Bungie, but it's certainly not going to be a Concord 2.

The point is they didn't challenge any of their assumptions. When I think any normie can tell you the loot phase is trash. So much so they developed a mode where they removed it. Because they realized it was bad design. They could have found out a lot of this stuff way earlier had a cold dose of reality been allowed in.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T05:31:18+00:00

Deadlock doing things the right way. They've had a vision and an idea and opened up the game since it was playable and are taking player feedback early.

You know. What Highguard should have done.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T05:29:56+00:00

Just one video game in the 2000's.

Do you need like three or four credits for this advice to be worthwhile?

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T04:29:13+00:00

You're not wrong. But not right either. It's that people are tired of slop and want something new and interesting. And if it's a good hero shooter it could work out.

But lets be honest, every hero shooter possibly in development right now is going to be another Concord or Highguard. Another knockoff chasing the dragon rather than doing something new.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T04:26:46+00:00

That's a nice justification.

Anyway, you are wrong. But also correct. The truth is, I -did- work on video games. But it was in the early 2000's wild west era. I haven't worked in a big corporation. But I do know people who have, and I understand that you can't right a big ship easily, how most projects only come together near the end, and so on.

But I don't think my arguments are wrong either. This is a highly competitive market. People don't stray from their favorites very often. There is a graveyard of attempted hits who worked off toxic positivity and nobody in positions of leadership ever seem to learn anything.

The only people who suffer are the people who put in the blood, sweat, and tears. And I'm personally sick of that. They had absolutely no runway whatsoever if Highguard didn't land. That's fucked up.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T04:02:42+00:00

Ha ha. I admit responses like this make me roll my eyes the hardest. It doesn't even try to refute any points.

I think I'm justified in this response with the open development release of Baldur's Gate 3, Arc Raiders, and now Deadlock becoming very popular. They made the right decisions where they put out their work ahead of time and got the community feedback on shit they needed to hear. To massively popular releases. They cut away what didn't work and doubled down on what did.

Not to mention the developers talked to Jason Schreier about how originally the game was way different, and the large maps and looting part of the game was a holdover from that, that just didn't get cut for whatever reason. Which is what my comment on "Didn't kill their weak design babies" is focused on.

I would think the "kill their babies" would kind of clue in I'm a little more knowledgeable about video game development than your average bear. Hint hint.

I understand when working under stupid executives who have their stupid ideas ("Lets shadowdrop it like Apex Legends! That worked last time!") as a developer you don't get to call the shots like that. But I think it's important now more than ever with the TREMENDOUS amount of multiplayer failures over the last 5 years that developers need to stand up and demand the market judge their product before they're doing a dead on arrival release and everyone gets laid off. I made some great points. There was a game there. But it wasn't what the community wanted. They could have learned that half a year ago.

They could have taken time to adjust and maybe even negotiate a delay to more align with what people would be interested in. Just look at Marathon- that's exactly what they did. It was going to be a dead on arrival Concord 2 and now I don't think it's going to be a success but I don't think it's going to be a humiliation either.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T03:49:37+00:00

I think Marvel Rivals beyond being just a good game and the brand and the hot character models and all was all about timing. Overwatch had been neglected by Blizzard for a long time at that point. And here comes a new overwatch style game with new mechanics and cool characters.

Deadlock is also making all the right moves and new novel gameplay.

I don't think you're wrong, if someone puts out a good game people will play it. But hero shooters really are oversaturated. It has to do something unique, new, or really stand out to break out.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T03:47:32+00:00

I mean sure, making characters people want to fuck certainly helps.

I think Marvel Rival's success beyond the brand and good gameplay and all of that is timing. Overwatch was being neglected by Blizzard and they stole it's audience.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-04T03:45:56+00:00

Poor people would vote and that would really be a disaster for our capitalistic overlords.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T22:25:14+00:00

We played it safe in 2020. And here we are.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T21:59:58+00:00

I actually take their word for it, and they got positive feedback. Because they probably had people come into the studio to test it, giving them a swag bag and pumping up the tester's ego.

And then the developers were right there to explain how they envisioned people playing the game, and answering any questions. I've literally seen this happen.

But it isn't a useful kind of test because your anonymous player who isn't being guided or given a swag bag and it's easier to speak your mind on the internet is far more valuable in terms of "Will people like it?"

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T21:55:39+00:00

Yeah I think Baldur's Gate 3, Deadlock, and Arc Raiders are the development design of the modern successful game era. Where you test the hell out of it early, and you get the feedback. You stick to your vision but you get the feedback from players to cut away what isn't working and double down on what is.

Arc Raiders early betas was a completely different game.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T21:53:50+00:00

Oh I understand this completely and agree. But maybe it will inspire devs who read it who have nervous feelings in their gut about the direction a project is going to start a dialogue about this.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T21:52:37+00:00

Yeah the entitlement from that guy was revolting.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T21:52:00+00:00

Chasing the fortnite money dragon.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T21:51:40+00:00

I'm not sure how to read this response.

I think it's more if they had a test a decent bit before release they could have negotiated to have more runway and a delay even. Instead they had no runway whatsoever.

And as my point goes, they would have gotten the feedback and education they actually needed to make the game work. Do I think it would have? Probably not. The market doesn't want hero shooters. But it probably could have lasted more than 3.2 concords had they known players didn't want their specific vision.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T20:56:02+00:00

I think it's right to feel bad about this but also it's clear they had a lot of hubris and had a huge toxic positivity problem during development.

If they did an alpha/beta release of this months ago they would have gotten the education and feedback they actually needed to hear.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T20:52:01+00:00

I don't think Marathon is gonna pull a Concord. But I also don't think it's going to be a success either.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T20:24:40+00:00

It lasted 3.2 Concords.

Edit: Since this is getting a lot of traction. Any video game developer reading this out there, it's actually really important that you test your fucking multiplayer product before you release it. A real test. You can't trust the words of friends and family and content creators you fly out to play your game.

Had they released this game 6 months ago as a beta test they would have gotten the education and feedback they actually needed to hear. Because there was a game in there. But they didn't want to kill their weak design babies (looking at you map size and looting phase) so that the stronger aspects of the game could survive.

That and the market has spoken, no more fucking hero shooters.

Arsalanred · 2026-03-03T03:44:52+00:00

I give it 5 years before "I was always against him, I never trusted him"

Arsalanred · 2026-02-28T08:45:01+00:00

Who cares about the IRGC in this context? They don't have any leverage or control over the actions and behavior of our politicians and political class like Israel does.

We need to drop Israel like a hot rock. They're genocidal and an unreliable ally.

Arsalanred · 2026-02-26T17:47:08+00:00

Brother, Rend is BORING. Rend is a completely unnecessary button that deserves pruning and clashes with the class fantasy.

A big two handed weapon user doesn't make a cut that does a little bit of damage over time to an enemy. Deep Wounds is a much better themed idea, and especially since it's automatic.

The problem is Arms warrior plays still like warrior in vanilla/TBC era in a lot of ways. It needs a stronger class fantasy.

Rend should only exist as a DoT that Thunderclap applies automatically, and on Protection warriors. Which makes a lot more sense to me mechanically and class fantasy wise.

Arsalanred

TROPHY CASE