Highguard Devs Allegedly Didn't Pay to be The Game Awards 2025's Grand Finale
Supposedly, it was Geoff Keighley who chose "Concord 2" as the event's headliner.
We are just a week away from Highguard, Wildlight's live-service hero shooter that was disliked into oblivion and mockingly dubbed "Concord 2" by the gaming community, hitting shelves, and yet, aside from the game's announcement trailer aired in the "grand finale" slot at last year's The Game Awards ceremony, we have yet to see even a single update on the upcoming title.
One update did arrive over the weekend, though, but not from Highguard's developers, but from a couple of gaming journalists instead, who claimed that one of the biggest reasons why the game is being mocked – its creators paying a hefty sum to make it a TGA 2025 headliner – is not Wildlight's fault, but that of the show's organizer, Geoff Keighley.
The most notable report came from Forbes' Paul Tassi, who, in a recent Twitter post, stated – without citing any sources – that "Highguard did not actually pay for that Game Awards finale spot" and that it was "just the show putting it there."
Video game reporter and well-known insider Rebs Gaming subsequently pointed out that Tassi wasn't the first to report this, crediting gaming reporter Imran Khan as the original news-breaker. Khan stated nearly two weeks ago that while Wildlight did pay to be featured at TGA, they did not choose the ceremony's "oh, and one last thing..." placement, and it was Keighley who selected that spot.
As to why Geoff Keighley – a questionable figure, sure, but one undeniably familiar with the nuances of the gaming industry and well aware of gamers' general dislike for games like Highguard – would give it such a spotlight, neither reporter has provided an answer.
With neither Keighley nor Wildlight representatives commenting on the rumor, theories about the placement range from the more grounded, like Keighley discussing it with Highguard's developers beforehand, to the more outlandish, such as the slot originally being reserved for Half-Life 3, which was allegedly scrapped due to rising RAM prices.
Of course, it goes without saying, but it should be noted that neither Tassi nor Khan have provided any concrete proof that this is the case – and even if they did, and it turns out the information came from the Wildlight team, it could easily be written off as the studio doing damage control by claiming they didn't spend extra money to be the show's main reveal – so take this information with a hefty pinch of salt.
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