Highguard Steam charts and player count: Has it beaten Concord?

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Following a strange marketing push that started with a reveal at The Game Awards 2025, we’re checking how well Highguard is doing on Steam – looking at its chart performance and player numbers to see if this new PvP shooter has surpassed Concord in popularity.

Geoff Keighley seemed genuinely enthusiastic, but many gamers don’t always agree with the well-known journalist and host’s preferences – a sentiment famously captured by a user named Hatty_ on X (formerly Twitter), as documented by the Nintendo out of Context account.

Since Concord shut down, online gaming has felt a bit stagnant. Many publishers rushed to create games similar to Fortnite, leading to an overcrowded market.

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Highguard faced a tough challenge from the start. But will it be able to overcome these difficulties? Keep reading to find out!

Highguard Steam charts and player count: Is it a hit?

Highguard reached a peak player count of 97,249 according to Steam DB.

Although the game initially had a strong start with over 11,000 players, the number has since decreased to 11,128. The highest number of players online dropped by half within five hours of release, specifically by 11 PM GMT.

As for whether Highguard is a hit, well, you could say it hit the ground with a bit of a thud.

Highguard currently has a ‘Mostly Negative’ rating on Steam, based on approximately 15,000 player reviews. While some negative reviews may be unfair due to online criticism of the game, legitimate concerns exist. For example, Steam user Swervey ‘Ascoobis’ Doo, after playing for 6 hours, stated the game is “boring,” and lacks engaging elements because the maps are empty of characters and offer only very basic loot.

After revisiting the game, the author updated their review, stating: “I double-checked to make sure I wasn’t being too harsh, but I wasn’t. Honestly, this is one of the most boring competitive multiplayer games I’ve ever played. I was genuinely hoping for the match to just end.”

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Okay, so it looks like Google’s reCAPTCHA is giving me trouble with this content. Apparently, I need to sign out of my Contentpass account to actually see it. A bit annoying, but I’ll try that and hopefully get back to watching!

Although Highguard’s numbers are currently a bit low, it’s still active and going strong. It’s normal to see fewer players online later in the day, particularly on a Monday evening when people are winding down after returning to work.

Highguard is proving to be much more successful than Firewalk Studios’ previous game, Concord. Concord only ever had a peak of around 697 players, according to Steam DB data.

While Highguard is a new online game, it hasn’t attracted as many players as some other recent releases, like Marvel Rivals, which had over 644,000 players right after it came out.

As of today, Apex Legends hit a high of 168,512 players in a single day. This was created by developers who previously worked at Wildlight Entertainment. While a strong number, it’s a little below the game’s typical peak of around 180,000 players.

Things aren’t looking great for Highguard right now, but we don’t yet know how many people are playing on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.

I’m really hoping Highguard’s cross-play feature will help it build a big, active community! It could be the key to keeping the game going strong, but honestly, we’ll just have to wait and see if it actually works out.

We hope Highguard becomes popular with players and does well, but it’s facing tough competition since so many new games are released regularly.

Authors

Cole LukeFreelance Writer
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2026-01-27 16:04