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Highguard Debuts on Steam with a peak CCU of 97k and 21% positive reviews

Men_in_Boxes said:
The Finals has averaged around 12k on Steam with a 75 person studio and is profitable.

Highguard is a 60 person studio. This never needed a 15k average CCU.
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The Finals had over 60k CCU a month after release. This game literally can't break 20k on day 2. A month from now it will be lucky to have half that.

You're also wrong about the developer head count for Highguard. Their own website lists 105 employees, the 60 is just the number that came from Respawn. So whatever number The Finals needed this game needs significantly higher.
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
BTW I put Men_in_Boxes on ignore after he told me Team Fortress 2 succeeded despite having terrible character designs. This dude will say anything no matter how retarded in order to avoid conceding an argument.

I can only assume he's saying equally retarded things here judging by all the ignored quotes I see lol
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I mean, the shtick is obvious by now.

1. Hype up the next GaaS.
2. Wait for consensus.
3. Adopt whatever opinion becomes dominant.

He still seems a bit undecided on HighGuard though. I assume once the player count drops even more, that'll get labeled as trash as well.

In the end, he usually just lets general popularity decide whether he likes something or not.

Rinse and repeat.
 
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StreetsofBeige said:
Yup. It's still about 19,000 as I type and it's just past 9 pm est. Unless it picks up somehow, it'll trickle down more as late night creeps in.

Chorizo, you were right. My estimate was way too high. Looks like in night 2, any new players playing are just replacing gamers dropping off 1:1. So even after dinner in eastern and central time USA tome zones which have a lot of people arent enough to boost it higher. So unless it catches on later this week, the numbers should trend down. Only hope is a temp weekend boost.

Shadow dropping the game like Apex is one thing (which they tried again thinking it'll work a second time), but a big problem is that they mislead gamers with that action packed trailer. Watching it, you'd think it's a crazy shooterfest on foot or horseback, your team yanks Excalibur from a stone and you forge ahead crashing through enemy defences with super siege weapon. Big action.

Turns out the game map is giant, it's 3 vs 3, there's tons of pre-battle mining and set up, and skimming some videos most of the fights are indoors - not insane horseback kills like everyone is a Mongolian solider for Genghis Khan in the trailer. So no wonder people are like WTF? The game is more slowed paced than shown where it actually resembles a MOBA. And not typical shooter games which is action from start to end no matter if it's easy to understand TDM or a team based objective mode.

That's your typical scammy bullshot videogame trailer for ya.

At least for games like COD or BF, those trailers are balls to the wall action resembling the real game. Right in the first minute it's already big shootouts and capturing objectives.
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I would say this game is "constant action". In a 30 minute match, you'll get 15 kills / 15 deaths a lot of the time. The "down time" is you racing to resources hoping you don't get ganked. The game puts constant pressure on the player.

If anything, I'd say the games relentless pace is a detriment to it more than anything.
 
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Men_in_Boxes said:
I would say this game is "constant action". In a 30 minute match, you'll get 15 kills / 15 deaths a lot of the time. The "down time" is you racing to resources hoping you don't get ganked. The game puts constant pressure on the player.

If anything, I'd say the games relentless pace is a detriment to it more than anything.
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That's literally the opposite of what people are saying online.

This game can't die fast enough so we can finally move on to the final boss: Marathon
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
That's literally the opposite of what people are saying online.
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I can only reiterate the K/D per time ratio again. It falls in line more with a Marvel Rivals / Overwatch in terms of amount of action. An odd complaint considering how much down time is in ARC Raiders, the best selling new IP since forever.

RafterXL said:
The Finals had over 60k CCU a month after release. This game literally can't break 20k on day 2. A month from now it will be lucky to have half that.
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I'm more concerned with the sustained CCU. It's not looking good for Highguard, but I think it's funny when the usual suspects talk wildly out of turn.

RafterXL said:
You're also wrong about the developer head count for Highguard. Their own website lists 105 employees, the 60 is just the number that came from Respawn. So whatever number The Finals needed this game needs significantly higher.
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Good catch. 100 developers puts their CCU floor considerably higher.
 
Steam CCU is down to 14k in this range of games. Just past midnight est.

Side note: Didnt know that Schedule 1 game dropped like a rock. It actually dropped in it's chart from 459k down 90+% in two months. It's held into this 20-30k kind of range since June 2025.

q6pSCpPG1ZEFtfrh.jpg
 
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StreetsofBeige said:
Steam CCU is down to 14k in this range of games. Just past midnight est.

Side note: Didnt know that Schedule 1 game dropped like a rock. It actually dropped in it's chart from 459k down 90+% in two months.

q6pSCpPG1ZEFtfrh.jpg
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Fallout New Vegas, a 16-year-old game, is just barely behind Highguard lol.
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
I can only reiterate the K/D per time ratio again. It falls in line more with a Marvel Rivals / Overwatch in terms of amount of action. An odd complaint considering how much down time is in ARC Raiders, the best selling new IP since forever.
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Well, your reiteration lacks one critical component: being grounded in reality.

This is why this game needs to die fast. Stop gaslighting yourself. Save that coping for Marathon, this one ain't worth it, dawg
 
Big-G said:
I think it makes more sense that Geoff just wanted to help this studio out for some personal reasons. Probably explains why he kept defening the game even after the show.
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Assuming it's true Wildlight paid zero (something we'll just have to believe is true for now unless someone spills the beans with invoice slips there was a fee), Geoff K is a big salesman whose been in the biz for decades. So he knows a lot of people and friends in the industry and how business promotions work.

There's always chance he technically made no money on the Highguard trailer spot, but IN THE FUTURE there is a deal for future promotional fees for other Wildlight games. Or Geoff K gets some juicy first dibs on something where he gets paid off another way.

Absolutely zero difference than a buyer at a retailer giving a freebie ad to an account manager in return for a favour later. And vice versa, the supplier can give a the retailer a gimme of some kind or first dibs on new products. In return, the retailer will make sure to put that supplier in their good books later in the year. So even though each side has their own things they got to focus on, they'll still work together as best buddies.

As for scratch my back, I'll scratch yours deals. Nobody ever said it ever has to relate to the exact same product either (like Highguard). Any future favours can relate to other products, typically within the same category of products (in this any favours stays within gaming).
 
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Regardless of if they bought that trailer spot, I think it's pretty clear that they spent a not insignificant amount of money marketing this game. This many influencers and sites don't just happen to cover your game for free all at once.
 
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uncreativename said:
Regardless of if they bought that trailer spot, I think it's pretty clear that they spent a not insignificant amount of money marketing this game. This many influencers don't just happen to cover your game for free all at once.
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No doubt.

It seems they simply tried to do the same thing with Apex and shadow drop it. It worked for Apex, so they surely tried it again. And use any marketing money for streamers instead of traditional trailers, early access or beta tests, Q&A etc... Any additional info they gave was right at launch.

I dont think they ran out of advertising and trailers money (I think some people assumed that). I think it was simply their plan the whole time to do an Apex 2.0 stealth launch and funnel the marketing to streamers.

But since Keighley's game award show was so close to launch being about a month and a half before, both sides somehow got together to do a last minute trailer promo, supposedly for free.
 
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StreetsofBeige said:
No doubt.

It seems they simply tried to do the same thing with Apex and shadow drop it. It worked for Apex, so they surely tried it again. And use any marketing money for streamers instead of traditional trailers, early access or beta tests, Q&A etc... Any additional info they gave was right at launch.

I dont think they ran out of advertising and trailers money (I think some people assumed that). I think it was simply their plan the whole time to do an Apex 2.0 stealth launch and funnel the marketing to streamers.

But since Keighley's game award show was so close to launch being about a month and a half before, both sides somehow got together to do a last minute trailer promo, supposedly for free.
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It's bizarre how out of touch can one be to think what worked years ago will still work now. Streamers endorsements was the way of the past, now you need to engage the community and co-create with them by using the feedback you get. It's all about transparency, not secrecy.

I don't even think people value streamers' opinions anymore, they just tune in to them out of habit, no matter what they are playing.
 
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I used to watch some streamers who used to be lets players, but it feels like they've gotten so desperate over the years, particularly lately. Can't watch them anymore. I assume for the smaller to mid-size audience streamers the Twitch and Patreon money must be drying up, and only the true psychos who will go nuts if you say one wrong word and who would rather watch 2 hours of just chatting are left in their (paying) audiences.
 
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Played a few more matches yesterday afternoon and have to say it's not for me. I don't think it's as terrible as the usual hyperbolic "gamers" make it out to be but they certainly made some strange design choices when developing the game. People writing games off before they have even released and played really need to get a new hobby.
 
Varteras said:
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Wtf is this guy mad about? "Wow the companies that need to convince you and sell a game to you… were in fact trying to do that… like every fucking game. "

The game being doo doo is what it is but being mad they wanted to hype it up is absurd to be upset. Their jobs are on the line lol.
 
It's a bit unfair the hate the game get just fot being the last one more thing at the show.

They cant match Concord characters
 
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dreamstation said:
Not sticking up for the game or the numbers or anything but you do know that USA is in bed and Europe are at work right? This is the time for the lowest numbers for every game.
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Unless its popular in china, but then you can already tell its not going to break into that market with the character designs.
 
kpopSuperstar said:
They don't need a super huge playerbase, but they need a medium sized one. They need a few thousand at minimum to retain good matchmaking and keep enough whales.
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5k ccu will be 100% death of the game, bro, its not 5 indie devs making 10m usd budget AA game, its veteran AAA dev studio, western based aka with crazy salaries compared to some eastern europe/china/india, they need some srs cashflow, and fast :)
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
BTW I put Men_in_Boxes on ignore after he told me Team Fortress 2 succeeded despite having terrible character designs. This dude will say anything no matter how retarded in order to avoid conceding an argument.

I can only assume he's saying equally retarded things here judging by all the ignored quotes I see lol
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U missing out, bro, ur choice ofc on ignore function but my personal rule is- u never put any1 on ignore coz u deprive urself of fun/laughs when they post some crazy bs stoopid shit, all other gaffers are enjoying the hell of the drama xD
 
TintoConCasera said:
Hopefully devs learn their lesson and stop putting out those shitty, half-baked MP games. We could have had a nice sp campaign by the same devs as Titanfall but nah, fuck that I guess.
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Yup when u realise we could get proper singleplayer current gen titanfal 3 with nice gritty multiplayer component(like og titanfal) instead it makes ur blood boil.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Assuming it's true Wildlight paid zero (something we'll just have to believe is true for now unless someone spills the beans with invoice slips there was a fee), Geoff K is a big salesman whose been in the biz for decades. So he knows a lot of people and friends in the industry and how business promotions work.

There's always chance he technically made no money on the Highguard trailer spot, but IN THE FUTURE there is a deal for future promotional fees for other Wildlight games. Or Geoff K gets some juicy first dibs on something where he gets paid off another way.

Absolutely zero difference than a buyer at a retailer giving a freebie ad to an account manager in return for a favour later. And vice versa, the supplier can give a the retailer a gimme of some kind or first dibs on new products. In return, the retailer will make sure to put that supplier in their good books later in the year. So even though each side has their own things they got to focus on, they'll still work together as best buddies.

As for scratch my back, I'll scratch yours deals. Nobody ever said it ever has to relate to the exact same product either (like Highguard). Any future favours can relate to other products, typically within the same category of products (in this any favours stays within gaming).
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That final trailer spot at latest TGA was easily worth 10m usd. He had to make money some way or they got something nasty on him to make him do it for free :P
 
dreamstation said:
Played a few more matches yesterday afternoon and have to say it's not for me. I don't think it's as terrible as the usual hyperbolic "gamers" make it out to be but they certainly made some strange design choices when developing the game. People writing games off before they have even released and played really need to get a new hobby.
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Its simple, if u are adult male, with job/family/responsibilities game being f2p doesnt mean shit, its actually a flaw coz it means devs wont value ur time- most precious thing person has to offer.
At least when u fork up 80$(100$?) on gta6 in 2027(delay will happen once again) u will feel like ur time is well spent/enjoying urself, unlike that f2p slop :P
 
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