Terminator: Survivors Drops Sarah Connor as Lead, Set for Full Launch

Nacon's upcoming survival game Terminator: Survivors will shift its central protagonist away from Sarah Connor in favor of an original survivor character, and will launch as a complete release instead of an Early Access title, according to Screen Rant.

The game places players in the role of a survivor who emerges from a shelter four years after a nuclear apocalypse, then helps found humanity's resistance against Skynet. The setting is 2009, after Skynet launched its nuclear attack in September 2005 — a timeline in which the original 1997 Judgment Day was prevented.

Nacon has confirmed that familiar franchise characters will still appear in the main story alongside the new original cast. The publisher has not announced a release date or narrowed release window for the game.

How the project shifted

The current plan differs from the game's earlier rollout. Terminator: Survivors was initially planned to launch in Steam Early Access on October 24, 2024, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions to follow later. In August 2024, Nacon said it needed additional development time and pushed the PC launch into 2025.

In December 2025, Nacon Studio Milan said it was abandoning the Early Access approach and that the game would not launch in 2025, with no new date locked in. The studio shared a development update in February 2026, saying it was preparing in-engine gameplay showcases and closed playtests, but did not announce a 2026 release window. As of October 2026, Terminator: Survivors still has no narrowed release window.