Overwatch Co-Creator Delays The Legend of California’s Early Access Release to 2027

Jeff Kaplan and Tim Ford, both veterans of Overwatch, are now building a survival game called The Legend of California at their new studio, Kintsugiyama. The game was originally expected to reach Steam Early Access in 2026. A recent r/pcgaming Reddit AMA confirmed that the launch has slipped to 2027.

What caused the delay for The Legend of California?

The Legend of California is an ambitious survival title in the vein of Rust. Players establish a ranch, dig for resources, and forge a path across a fictionalized version of Gold Rush–era California. The game is built around multiplayer and borrows a few ideas from MMOs, which means Kintsugiyama needs extra time to polish server performance. The game’s official account acknowledged the 2027 target in a reply on X several months ago, but that post went largely unnoticed. The studio didn’t discuss the new window more widely until this AMA.

In one response, Kaplan explained that the game should have reached early access by now. However, Alpha 3 “had performance issues and didn’t feel up to our standards for release.” In a separate answer, he added that the team has specific server performance targets to hit before launch, though the developers feel confident about the game’s features and content.

Once Kintsugiyama resolves these technical hurdles, an early access launch should follow. Elsewhere in the Q&A, Kaplan and Ford hinted at features still in development. In time, they hope to add private servers, mod support, a complete mine collapse and support system, and pets.

The Legend of California will arrive in early access on both Steam and the Epic Games Store in 2027. Ford said the studio is in talks with Nvidia about a GeForce Now release. The game won’t launch on consoles during early access. Another alpha test will run on Steam from Nov. 12 to Nov. 18.

Source: Polygon