The founder of Cambria, the blockchain RPG-turning-MMORPG, Ben.zzz has given the clearest look yet at how the game’s long-awaited Genesis mainnet will launch. It will be a deliberately smaller, more restrictive rollout than the seasonal servers that preceded it.
In a thread posted to X on 21st September, Ben described designing a “permanent onchain game economy” as “one of the most challenging things I’ve had to design yet,” contrasting it with Cambria’s previous seasons, which could simply reset their economies once each run ended.
The Genesis mainnet carries no such reset button, and with it comes what he called “a seemingly infinite amount of pitfalls.”
Rather than launching the full game at once, the studio plans to open Genesis mainnet to a supply-capped group of initial “citizens” first, gating access to the game’s core asset loops before widening to the broader player base in subsequent waves. Ben framed the approach through a colonial-settlement analogy: early access, like early settlement, should carry risk rather than free upside.
“None of this will be a free lunch that you can just freely take profit from,” he wrote. “Initial group will also take upfront risk.”
Previous seasons attracted between 3,000 and 4,000 concurrent players. Genesis would begin at a smaller scale, with wider participation and additional systems introduced through subsequent waves.
He said the approach would help the team plan expansion while accommodating fluctuations in activity, including periods of strong demand followed by slowdowns. The post did not announce a launch date or identify which assets would initially be restricted.
Genesis forms part of Cambria’s broader effort to connect its Dungeons, Islands and Gold Rush modes within one persistent universe. In an April development update, the team outlined plans for a shared world combining short dungeon sessions, island communities and competition between players and guilds.
Gold Rush’s planned development centres on extraction, group competition, raids and crafting. Raids would supply scarce materials for valuable equipment, making production and combat mutually dependent parts of the economy.
The Islands layer is intended to provide storage, social spaces and infrastructure for guilds, alongside buildings whose owners could charge other players for their use.
Prior to the launch of its RSGP token, which is still undated, Cambria currently operates financial gameplay through Dungeons, where players purchase keys using USDC and choose how many to risk on individual runs. Keys cost $0.10 each, and the amount committed multiplies potential rewards. Players select equipment and a combat style before collecting artifacts through combat and exploration.
Find out more at the Cambria website.