So here's the thing about Highguard - remember that awkward moment at The Game Awards when they revealed it and everyone just kinda... sat there? Yeah, the CEO's finally talking about it, and honestly, it's pretty rough.
The team originally planned to pull an Apex Legends move and just drop the game right after the reveal. No warning, no hype train, just BAM - here's our game, go play it. But then Geoff Keighley caught wind of their plans and basically said "hold up, let me cook something special for you guys." So they scrapped the shadow drop and went with a traditional reveal instead.
Turns out that was probably a mistake. The CEO admitted they wish the reception had been better, which is corporate speak for "holy crap that went badly." And look, I get it - when the Game Awards host himself offers to help showcase your game, you don't exactly say no. That's like turning down a Super Bowl halftime show because you had plans to perform at your local bar.
But sometimes those gut instincts are right. The Apex surprise launch worked because nobody saw it coming, and suddenly everyone was talking about it and downloading it at the same time. Highguard's traditional reveal just got lost in the shuffle of all the other announcements that night. Now they're stuck trying to rebuild momentum from basically zero.
The real kicker? We'll never know if their original plan would've worked better. Maybe the shadow drop would've crashed and burned too. But at least it would've been memorable, you know? Instead, they're just another game that got revealed at an awards show and immediately forgotten. Rough way to learn that sometimes the risky play is the right play.
Alex
Catch-all — action, adventure, simulation, racing, casual, horror, puzzle