- The Game Awards 2025 concluded with the reveal of Highguard, a multiplayer free-to-play shooter from ex-Respawn Entertainment developers.
- This trailer has already hit over 7K dislikes, highlighting a 10:1 dislike-to-like ratio on YouTube.
- Audiences have criticized the trailer for looking extremely generic and formulaic.
The Game Awards 2025 concluded more than 24 hours ago. This rendition of The Game Awards featured plenty of big game reveals, including the showcase of Leon in Resident Evil Requiem, two major Tomb Raider titles, and more.
Like past award shows, Geoff Keighley teased a major title for the closing announcement. This was followed by the debut of Highguard, a free-to-play multiplayer shooter from ex-Respawn Entertainment developers.
Unfortunately, initial reactions to this trailer have not been great, and the video has even racked up quite a lot of dislikes on YouTube already.
Why it matters: The free-to-play live-service shooter market has become very saturated, with recent attempts at the genre like Concord proving that players are not too interested in many more such games.

At the time of writing, Highguard has around 10x more dislikes than likes on YouTube.
The total count has reached 7.3K dislikes, and although this may seem low for now, it is important to note that the trailer itself doesn’t have the biggest audience either, at just under 60K views.
Over on social media, many users have also criticized the game for looking like yet another generic multiplayer shooter. Others have pointed out the absurdity of Geoff Keighley picking Highguard as the final reveal of The Game Awards.
Even in the YouTube comments, fans have made snarky remarks about nobody leaking the project due to obvious reasons, referencing Geoff Keighley’s statement about the former Titanfall developers working on the game in secret.
Also, many comments have already compared the title to Concord and Fairgame$, stating that there are already too many titles that serve the same purpose within the live-service genre.
Many even stated that Titanfall 3 would have been a much bigger announcement than Highguard, since fans have wanted a Titanfall sequel for the longest time. Nonetheless, initial reactions have not been the kindest to Highguard, and perhaps the game will fare better once it releases on January 26 for all to play.
What do you make of the backlash to Highguard? Do you think the game looks generic? Share your opinions in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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