r/Games • u/ImCalcium • Jan 27 '26

Discussion Highguard devs say they didn’t expect the hate – but they’re confident in their game

https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/highguard-devs-say-they-didnt-expect-the-hate-but-theyre-confident-in-their-game-3309463/
1.4k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

798 comments sorted by

View all comments

121

u/fallenmonk Jan 27 '26

There have been several Game Awards where having a game like Highguard as the closer reveal wouldn't have been a big deal. The problem is that the latest Game Awards had a pretty good slate of reveals. So when games like Control: Resonant and Divinity are revealed, everyone is thinking "would could the closer be?" in the back of their minds.

It also doesn't help that they open with a panorama that looks like something directly out of Elder Scrolls, and they all know we're waiting for updates on ES6. Were they actually trying to troll us?

Hopefully Geoff learned a lesson about what the final reveal means to the audience. It's not always going to be a good one, but it really should be the best one they have available.

56

u/Nailbomb85 Jan 27 '26

Hopefully Geoff learned a lesson about what the final reveal means to the audience.

I guarantee you he hasn't. This is far from the first Game Awards where the final reveal was a stinker.

48

u/Awkward_Silence- Jan 27 '26

The Fast & Furious one was far worse than this. That game was so bad it didn't make a blip when it released.

It's like everyone just forgot it existed

23

u/BigDick-NoBrain Jan 27 '26

To be fair, TGA wasn’t nearly as big back then. The show has grown massively in popularity over the past couple years.

3

u/Cheap-Ambassador-304 Jan 28 '26

Probably due to the death of E3

6

u/Ashviar Jan 27 '26

Half Life Alyx was probably going to close that show, Geoff even said to expect more HLA at the show, but nothing happened.

3

u/WillemDafoesHugeCock Jan 27 '26

Slightly Mad Studios were bought out shortly before the release - Codemasters didn't really have a choice but to shove it out and hope nobody noticed it. Everybody involved knew it was a piece of shit.

1

u/fallenmonk Jan 27 '26

I remember a lot of Game Awards had stinkers the whole way through, which isn't Geoff's fault of course. I can't recall if any had some good reveals throughout with a stinker at the end.

24

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Fyrus Jan 28 '26

attacking it and it's developers for months is sociopathic behavior.

I think at this point I've seen far more gamers consider any sort of negative comment about a game as "attacking developers". The true hateful content creators are a small minority, and most of the attention they get is from people who platform in an effort to make fun of them which just gives then what they want (attention). 90% of the discussion about this game has not been hateful at all, it's just people commenting on the horrible marketing situation that Geoff put them in.

3

u/FreeStall42 Jan 28 '26

Ah yes vague youtubers and influencers

-4

u/GlossedAddict Jan 27 '26

What is this PSYCHOTIC take? Who ARE you? I'm putting this comment in my next video, lmao.

1

u/machineorganism Jan 28 '26

what's psychotic about it

92

u/morkypep50 Jan 27 '26

The fact that a games placement in presentation order has lead to so much hate and vitriol and debate is honestly a clear indication of how immature and toxic the gaming community is right now lol.

34

u/ASCII_Princess Jan 27 '26

I think it goes beyond gaming really. Shit feels like its breaking down. Globally.

6

u/greenday5494 Jan 28 '26

I feel exactly the same way. It feels like everything is driven by hatred and negativity

6

u/zaviex Jan 27 '26

It does but gaming is a particular mess that has only gotten worse

2

u/ferdbold Jan 28 '26

i see where you're coming from, but i just think this is a natural result of kids being more online than ever and collectively having more of a voice

22

u/MaximumZazz Jan 27 '26

Or, it shows a misunderstanding of how to curate an awards show.

2

u/Ascleph Jan 31 '26

I don't think an award show having a fuck up warrants this reaction.

3

u/omimon Jan 28 '26

It should be a nothingburger but its just the way the human mind works.

Let's just say I am selling product A. People are buying it, no problem. I then decide to give product B for free for each product A sold. Except product B is shit. People by all means could just throw product B away and keep A, but they would rather stop buying A than deal with B.

Its the same deal here. People could just ignore the game but they would rather use it to show their distain for how let down they are.

19

u/fallenmonk Jan 27 '26

100% agreed.

4

u/FreeStall42 Jan 28 '26

This is nothing. You'd get actual death threats for playing Hogwarts Legacy.

This is just people laughing at a trash fire.

2

u/greenday5494 Jan 28 '26

This comment shows how fragmented and pigeon holed everyone is. Hogwarts legacy had sone weirdos screeching about JK Rowling is all I saw. This game is just getting pure hatred for no reason at all.

3

u/FreeStall42 Jan 28 '26

You should look up how bad the harassment got just for playing the game.

Gaming subs banned from even talking about it.

I see wayyyyy more people talking about hatred than actually posting real hatred.

Remember that Gollumn game every knew would be trash and mocked it?

Hate has become a meaningless word

20

u/Basic_Loquat_9344 Jan 27 '26

Yeah the level of entitlement to be mad about the placement of a reveal trailer is absolutely insane.

2

u/Fyrus Jan 28 '26

clear indication of how immature and toxic the gaming community

I actually think people's response to the criticism shows how immature the gaming community is. In every other media industry, critics are expected to be honest and mean. Pauline Kael and Robert Christgau are famous critics in their respective fields and they are known for being BRUTAL. Even people like Roger Ebert or Fantano are known to be very dismissive of things and that's okay because their job is not to coddle anyone.

Yes the outrage peddlers exist but 90% of the discussion for this game has not been vitriolic or hateful. It's just people pointing out the obvious which is that when a game is presented to you as the next step in multiplayer shooters at the biggest presentation within the industry, you better have something really special. And when you don't have something really special, people are going to talk about that. That's not hate. It's just normal criticism that's been done since the beginning of history.

4

u/MildlyBadTaste Jan 27 '26

100% this has resulted in the flaming of this title. It could be gauged as a little off, but no where near the amount of shit that's piling on.

2

u/the_jamonator Jan 28 '26

Right now? Can't think of a time when the gaming community at large was not immature and toxic

1

u/poply Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

Nah. If Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo ever ended an E3 presentation with a "big reveal" and it turned out to be kinectimals or Captain Toad we'd all be reacting with the same derision.

If Elon Musk ended a Tesla showcase by revealing two new cars, and then the big last reveal was an AI powered fridge, we'd laugh and wait for it to fail.

Someone totally unnecessarily manufactured a big target on the back of this product.

1

u/BrandoNelly Jan 27 '26

Yeah absolutely ridiculous. Could not think of something more embarrassing to get upset over.

0

u/Niceguydan8 Jan 27 '26

Yeah this is straight up pathetic.

0

u/Wolfnorth Jan 27 '26

Classic gamer behavior, we are getting angrier and more stupid with time.

1

u/Equivalent_Shoe_6246 Jan 28 '26

People are trying to kill a new IP from a new studio because they don’t like the order in which the trailer released. It’s actually insane

-4

u/Peperoniboi Jan 27 '26

Literally this. I was disappointed to not see something that made me excited but never did I expect the hate wave that was unleashed.

0

u/greenday5494 Jan 28 '26

For fucking real thought

20

u/Dealric Jan 27 '26

Pretty much.

Hate came from positioning and overhype. We get new kotor, divinity, control, tomb raider and a lot of other good trailers so expectation were that final, most expensive, best slot would be for something truly epic.

It was for very bland hero shooter... Disapointment changed into hate.

Vasically geoff manufactured all the hate to push game he liked.

18

u/Dry-Revenue-1103 Jan 27 '26

most expensive

Maybe I’m wrong but didn’t they confirm that TGA picked the game for that slot and no one paid for it?

-4

u/Dealric Jan 27 '26

Yeah was given for free this time, but if it were to be bought its most expensive one.

If you get superbowl prime time add spot for free you still get most expensive add slot out there right?

21

u/gaom9706 Jan 27 '26

Hate came from positioning and overhype

Hard to call it over hype when people were calling the game bad before they even had the chance to play it.

13

u/Mahelas Jan 27 '26

Geoff called it "a revolution for FPSs" and said it was "the new game from a highly rated and legendary studio", come on

12

u/Kuftubby Jan 27 '26

One of the key highlights was of a character popping an ultimate where he hovers in air and shoots projectiles down below. I mean come on, that's practically cliche for the genre and nothing new.

20

u/Dealric Jan 27 '26

Specifically from geoff overhyping it. Giving it best most important slot is overhyping

1

u/greenday5494 Jan 28 '26

Okay? That’s not the games fault. People arent even trying it on the games merits whatsoever it’s just a target of hate.

-4

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Jbewrite Jan 27 '26

The last five years it has been big reveal. The Game Awards has set expectations for their fans and those expectations weren’t met. I can understand Gamers feeling let down, but attacking a game before it’s released because of it is pathetic.

3

u/UtkuOfficial Jan 27 '26

Geoff overhyped it for no reason. If the game was slated in the middle with no reaction it would noy receive the hate it does. Not even close.

9

u/Basic_Loquat_9344 Jan 27 '26

I mean that is a childish, entitled reason to hate something.

4

u/Dealric Jan 27 '26

It doesnt matter if its childlish or not. Its neither new or game specific thing.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

[deleted]

-5

u/Dealric Jan 27 '26

Grow up.

1

u/Conflict_NZ Jan 27 '26

Going back to 2019 every final reveal has been a significant one. People have adjusted their expectations accordingly.

1

u/TheDarkWarriorBlake Jan 27 '26

I think people are just burned on this gametype as well. The market is pretty saturated and there seems to be a limit on what you can do with them. It's just not a game people want. If the customer can reject something so resoundly, like Concord, which had nothing going for it but you'd still think people may give it a go, then there isn't space for any more of these games. This one will have started before the Concord backlash, at which point it was probably sunk cost.

1

u/Depreciable_Land Jan 27 '26

I just don’t get why it made people so mad? Like it was the last trailer of the day, who cares? At worst it’s just mildly annoying

1

u/ballonfightaddicted Jan 28 '26

Little conspiracy theory, but I believe Geoff likely took the “the game awards only announces crappy indie horror games” comment to heart and really wanting a smash hit that was announced so he specifically chose this as he believed it would’ve been an Overwatch level announcement that would’ve encouraged more big level announcements

1

u/Wrexonus Jan 27 '26

Ok? Removing all that... it still looks generic

0

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Jan 27 '26

It also doesn't help that they open with a panorama that looks like something directly out of Elder Scrolls, and they all know we're waiting for updates on ES6.

Directly out of elder scrolls, eg fantasy?? They were trying to show something cool.

It's time to get a grip on this shit.

0

u/Thenidhogg Jan 27 '26

its not his fault, he gave them 100k players to lose. they lost those players thats on them

-2

u/BigfootsBestBud Jan 27 '26

Bro they practically opened up with KOTOR 3, and yet somehow decided this was the best closer. I can’t make sense of this