Highguard Drops Apex Legends Credit

Highguard Quietly Removes Apex Legends Mentions From Steam Page

When Highguard was first announced at The Game Awards in December 2026, its pitch was crystal clear. This was a new free to play FPS built by developers who helped shape Titanfall and Apex Legends. That connection was not a footnote. It was the headline. Fast forward to launch day, and that selling point has quietly vanished from one of the game’s most important storefronts.

On January 26, the same day Highguard launched on PC and consoles, its Steam description was edited to remove all references to Apex Legends and Titanfall. According to changes tracked by SteamDB, the original text explicitly positioned Highguard as a project “from the creators of Apex Legends and Titanfall.” By Monday, that line was gone, replaced with a much more neutral overview of the game’s PvP raid shooter mechanics and fantasy setting.

Is Respawn Abandoning Highguard Already?

At first glance, this might seem like a harmless tweak. Store pages get edited all the time. But context matters here. The connection to Apex Legends was not just marketing fluff. It was part of Highguard’s public identity from day one.

During the 2025 Game Awards reveal, Geoff Keighley himself introduced the game by highlighting that it came from 61 developers who previously worked on Apex Legends and Titanfall. The message was clear. This was a new studio, but one built on proven shooter DNA. That framing was repeated in early coverage and reinforced again on launch day through an Xbox Wire post that openly referenced both franchises.

Yet despite that consistency elsewhere, the Steam page now stands alone. The Xbox and PlayStation storefronts never mentioned Apex Legends or Titanfall to begin with, but Steam did, and now it does not. That makes the removal feel intentional rather than coincidental.

Launch Day Reality Check The timing of the change has fueled plenty of speculation. Highguard’s early reception on Steam has been rough, with player reviews skewing heavily negative. Complaints range from balance issues to technical problems and a lack of depth compared to what many expected from a team with such a storied background. In that light, distancing the game from Apex Legends starts to make sense from a branding perspective.

Apex is still one of the most recognizable names in competitive shooters. Tying a poorly received launch to that legacy could create unwanted backlash, both from players and from former colleagues still working under the Apex banner.

Let's not forget that there's another possibility, as legal concerns may be the real issue, with EA possibly stepping in to limit how closely an independent studio can market itself using the Apex Legends name. There is also the simplest explanation. Someone in marketing may have decided the description was too long or too specific and opted for a cleaner, more generic pitch. For now, there is no official explanation.

Apex Legends is Thriving

Interestingly, Apex Legends itself remains a dominant force in the ranked FPS space. Its competitive ladder continues to attract players who care deeply about progression, status, and visible improvement. Apex Legends Esports are growing in 2026, and competitive players are more focused than ever, with ranked Apex boost services, coaching, and online streams serving this community of players chasing higher ranks, limited time rewards, or seasonal goals..

Highguard was clearly hoping to tap into that same competitive audience by leaning on familiar names and reputations. Removing Apex Legends from its Steam page weakens that bridge, especially for players who might have been curious precisely because of that shared lineage.

Highguard's Bizarre Development

Whether this change was driven by legal pressure, brand protection, or simple damage control, it adds to a growing list of strange decisions surrounding Highguard’s debut. Publicly, the game was introduced as a spiritual successor built by shooter veterans. Quietly, one of its most visible storefronts now avoids mentioning that past altogether.

Until the developers address the change directly, players are left to connect the dots themselves. For a game already struggling to define its identity in a crowded FPS market, removing a major credibility signal was always going to raise eyebrows. As Highguard tries to stabilize post launch, transparency may matter just as much as balance patches and bug fixes.

 

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