20 Recent Video Games That Were Sent Out To Die

20. Highguard

Let's kick this list off with gaming's most recent high-profile flop - Highguard.

Wildlight Entertainment's free-to-play hero shooter turned a lot of heads when it was unexpectedly announced at the very end of last year's Game Awards. 

With such a slot typically being reserved for megaton reveals in name franchises, it caught many by surprise, with Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley later revealing that Wildlight didn't pay for the slot, but rather he chose to showcase the game out of his own desire to support it.

Even with the game set to release just six weeks after the Game Awards, Wildlight stayed radio silent until three days before launch, when they announced a gameplay showcase to release on launch day.

It was a bizarre marketing strategy which puzzled many, with increasing speculation that Wildlight simply bit off more than they could chew with the project.

Highguard ultimately achieved almost 100,000 concurrent Steam players on launch day, though within a week it shed 90% of that figure amid wildly mixed reviews from critics and players alike.

Within a month, Highguard had lost 99% of its launch player count, but by this point the game's backer Tencent had already withdrawn funding, resulting in the majority of the studio's staff being laid off.

This was the final nail in the coffin, as Highguard was shut down on March 12th, a mere 45 days after launch. 

And like that, it joined the pile of short-lived live-service games many predicted would flop the moment they were revealed.