Open-World Survival Shooter The Legend Of California Is Former Overwatch Lead Director Jeff Kaplan’s New Game

Jeff Kaplan, former vice president of Blizzard Entertainment and lead director on Overwatch, left the company in 2021 after it demanded Overwatch generate recurring revenue or it would lay off 1,000 employees, according to a recent interview on the Lex Fridman podcast. In that time, Kaplan founded a development studio called Kintsugiyama and it has revealed what it has been working on all these years.

A far cry from the fantasy of Warcraft and science-fiction of Overwatch, The Legend of California is an open-world survival shooter game set in California during the gold rush era.

In the game players will survive and compete for resources in the “mythical Island of California.” It is designed to be played alone, or you can survive and thrive (or die) with up to three friends. Along with expected survival mechanics, like cutting down trees to make shelter, you can also tackle outposts filled with enemies to make money. The persistent online world will also let you build a ranch, stables, and explore mines.

The Legend of California is coming to Early Access on PC by way of Steam some time in 2026.