Highguard’s Twitch viewership plummets as top streamers move on

While Highguard’s player count has largely been the focus, Twitch viewership tells a concerning tale as interest plummets and popular streamers move on to other titles.

We all know Highguard had a rocky road to launch. Its spot closing the show at The Game Awards 2025 didn’t do any favors, and the silence in the lead-up to launch only caused concern.

Developers ultimately wanted the game to speak for itself, and while we praised its unique concept, our early preview made it clear there was room for growth.

Now that it’s out in the open, we have empirical data to go off. For one, there’s the player count, which has been in decline since launch day. Beyond that, however, is interest on Twitch. In a matter of days, viewership has seen a staggering 98% decrease on the platform.

Highguard’s Twitch viewership in freefall

At launch, on January 26, 2026, Highguard enjoyed a spot among the top categories on Twitch, the massively popular streaming platform.

During its first 24 hours on the market, the new F2P Raid Shooter hit a peak of 382,943 concurrent viewers, according to data from SullyGnome. A vast majority of the top streamers, like shroud, Ninja, and many others were all jumping in to see what the fuss was about.

In the days following, however, the game has not been able to maintain an audience on Twitch.

SullyGnome

Highguard has lost 98% of its launch day viewership on Twitch in just three days.

The following day saw a peak of 81,308 concurrent viewers. By January 28, that number shrunk to a peak of 24,245 viewers. And as of January 29, Highguard has fallen into the four-figure territory, peaking at 7,071 viewers by the time of writing.

It’s worth noting Twitch Drops are live for Highguard, indicating they’re having little impact on its longevity.

At the time of writing, Highguard as a category has fewer collective viewers than the original Call of Duty from 2003, Ratchet & Clank from 2002, not to mention the likes of sleeping streams, art streams, and even Apex Legends, of which many of the developers worked on over seven years ago.

Shroud, Summit1G, TimTheTatman, and LIRIK are just a few of the names in the top 10 Highguard streamers in terms of peak viewership. Of the top 10, only two have streamed the game for more than six hours total – the first two names we mentioned. Only the same two returned for multiple sessions.

Twitch

Spotting Highguard on Twitch’s directory requires a fair few scrolls down the page.

For the most part, streamers have swiftly moved on, and there’s no telling whether they may return in the near future. The likes of shroud praising gameplay mechanics but listing a number of major problems that need urgent fixing to keep players engaged.

Of course, developers at Wildlight Entertainment have already mapped out plans for the first year, with new content drops expected at a regular cadence.

From new Vanguards to the addition of Ranked Mode, there’s plenty on the way. But will any of it be enough to recapture attention on Twitch? Only time will tell.