Highguard, the newly launched free-to-play shooter, has made headlines by attracting nearly 100,000 concurrent players on its first day on Steam. However, this impressive figure is somewhat overshadowed by the game’s reception, which includes over 13,000 negative reviews. This stark contrast raises questions about player expectations and the challenges facing new IPs in a competitive gaming landscape. Despite the strong player count, only 32.05% of the reviews are positive, with many players criticizing the game’s large map size for its 3vs3 matchups.