Jeff Kaplan, the previous boss of the Overwatch workforce, has lastly revealed why he left Blizzard after practically 20 years with the corporate, pinning the blame on excessive monetary pressures on the sport to ship for Activision Blizzard.
Kaplan introduced his departure from Blizzard in August 2021, with the controversial Overwatch 2 nonetheless in improvement. Kaplan joined Blizzard in 2002 the place he began as a designer on World of Warcraft, creating quests for the then upcoming MMORPG. He finally was credited as a sport director on WoW. In 2009, Kaplan spearheaded an unannounced challenge at Blizzard known as Titan, an bold new MMO that was finally canceled in 2014 after tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} was spent on its improvement.
Kaplan and members of the Titan workforce took concepts from the sport and redesigned them into the team-based hero shooter now often called Overwatch, which went on to develop into extremely profitable. Now, 5 years after he left, Kaplan has returned to the general public eye to announce his new sport, The Legend of California, and to inform his facet of the story. In a sweeping interview with Lex Fridman, Kaplan mentioned his profession thus far, and as a part of that opened up on why he left Blizzard.
Here is my dialog with Jeff Kaplan, a legendary Blizzard sport designer of World of Warcraft and Overwatch, that are two of the largest, most influential video games ever made. Jeff is among the most real & superior human beings I’ve ever met: type, considerate, hilarious, and… pic.twitter.com/kw14nET8SQ
— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) March 11, 2026
He pointed to the Overwatch League, Overwatch’s devoted esports collection that revolved round city-based groups mirroring conventional sports activities leagues, as being “the most important derail.” In accordance with Kaplan, who believed in Overwatch League and helped pitch it, it was oversold to companions who then utilized an elevated stress on the Overwatch workforce to ship not simply in-game help for the League by way of workforce skins, esports spectator digicam management, and Twitch integration, however stress to generate extra income.
“The place it bought away from us was, there was a variety of pleasure about Overwatch League, like an excessive amount of so,” Kaplan stated. “After which it bought overmarketed to the folks shopping for the groups. They went on this roadshow the place that they had a deck — and you’ll put something in a deck and promote something — they usually had been just about promoting the Brooklyn Bridge, that Overwatch League was going to be extra widespread than the NFL. We bought a bunch of billionaire traders in these groups.”
Commitments made for Overwatch League pulled sources away from what Kaplan really needed to do with Overwatch, which was to construct on the sport itself with new occasions and heroes.
“And so your entire plans at that time kinda exit the window,” Kaplan defined. “You are not going to work on new world occasions, you are not likely even centered on Overwatch 2, you are simply treading water. There was a variety of speak of like, ‘Oh god, the deal didn’t go nicely and we’ve bought to do ‘make items’ to make the deal higher for them.’ I’m like, ‘Simply give them some a reimbursement.’ If the deal isn’t what folks needed, placing it on us, the Overwatch workforce, to help this beast…
“It was a terrific concept that the flawed instincts and… I do not know how you can phrase this in a manner that is not damning, however there was an excessive amount of give attention to, ‘Let’s make a number of cash actually quick.’ And lots of people bought dragged into it.”
The monetary actuality then kicked in, Kaplan stated. “Now we didn’t simply have executives at Activision and Blizzard who cared concerning the backside line of Overwatch. We had all these individuals who principally invested within the sport, after which they began to precise their opinions.”
After it grew to become clear Overwatch League wasn’t going to ship NFL cash, “Everyone rapidly defaulted again to, ‘Hey, didn’t Overwatch make like $500 million simply within the stay sport final 12 months? What can we promote and what are you able to give us?’ That stress comes onto the workforce. After which the stress to ship Overwatch 2, and all care and love that we had for the stay sport, let’s simply make occasions and new heroes and new maps, we’re shedding all these sources.”
Kaplan stated he believed in Overwatch 2, saying the Overwatch 2 out now is just not the PvE model that Blizzard had introduced (Blizzard has since reverted the Overwatch 2 title to, merely, Overwatch). Overwatch 2 and Overwatch League finally grew to become an “albatross,” Kaplan stated, ruining what he felt was very a lot a superb factor. “It felt like we had been working Overwatch and we had been very, very profitable and doing a superb job, and I believe the followers had been completely happy,” he stated.
Kaplan then revealed a gathering with Activision’s then Chief Monetary Officer which, as he described it, “was the largest f*** you second I had in my profession.”
(The greenback quantities are redacted to forestall Kaplan from breaking a non-disclosure settlement, in accordance with the interview tape.)
“What finally broke me and my Blizzard profession was I bought known as into the CFO’s workplace, and he sits me down and he says… he offers me a date, which on the time was 2020 and was going to slide to 2021, however on the time it was 2020, and he stated: ‘Overwatch has to make [redacted] in 2020, after which yearly after that it wants a recurring income of [redacted].’ After which he says to me, ‘If it would not do [redacted] {dollars}, we will lay off 1,000 folks, and that is going to be on you.’ And that was simply the largest f*** you second I had in my profession. It felt surreal to be in that situation.”
Kaplan went on to say he thought he’d retire at Blizzard. However that assembly was the straw that broke the camel’s again, and he left the corporate a 12 months later.
“As somebody who’s labored on a variety of video games, made a variety of video games, you get in these conferences the place they’re like, ‘Fortnite has 1,400 folks engaged on it, should you simply rent 1,400 folks and make it free-to-play, we’ll make that cash, proper?’ I had believed I’d by no means work anywhere however Blizzard. I cherished it. It was part of who I used to be. And I believed I used to be part of it. And I actually thought I’d retire from the place. I by no means thought the day would come. However that was it. We’re executed right here. Fortunately for Blizzard, that CFO is not there.”
Activision Blizzard’s then CFO was Dennis Durkin, who left in Could 2021. IGN has requested Activision for remark.
Photograph by James Sheppard/Edge Journal/Future through Getty Photographs.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
