'I honestly thought Highguard looked pretty good' — Gears of War creator laments internet culture where it's 'cool to hate' new games

Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski expressed frustration with internet culture in a recent Facebook post, lamenting that players' minds seem to be made up before a game is even released. He pointed to games like Highguard and Horizon Hunters Gathering as examples of this phenomenon. Bleszinski, who was the lead designer of the first three Gears of War games, shared his thoughts on Concord, a live-service hero arena shooter that was released in 2024 but was shut down after just two weeks due to low sales.

He noted that there were numerous videos blaming the game's failure on various factors such as hero shooter fatigue, character designs, timing, and long development cycles. This, he argued, led to a similar fate for Highguard, a free-to-play hero shooter that was shut down after just 45 days. Despite his initial skepticism about Highguard's unique selling point, Bleszinski admitted that he was "sucked into the rabbit hole" of negative reviews about the game before even experiencing it.

He compared this to the failed sci-fi hero shooter LawBreakers, which he directed and was shut down a year later. Bleszinski also discussed Horizon Hunters Gathering, an upcoming co-op Horizon Zero Dawn spin-off that had already received a lot of negative attention from gamers. He expressed his love for Horizon and thought the game looked compelling, but was dismayed by the barrage of negative comments in the comments section.

Bleszinski concluded by stating that, in today's world, it is not cool to like something and if something becomes loved, it then becomes cool to hate it. He questioned how this dogpiling phenomenon came about, but did not provide a definitive conclusion.