Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Over the past few years, anyone who has followed Blizzard Entertainment has gotten used to staff departures. However, Tuesday's news is a massive stunner, nonetheless. Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan has announced that he will be leaving the company after working with Blizzard for 19 years.
Here's the full letter from Kaplan, which was posted on the Blizzard website:
i am leaving Blizzard Entertainment after 19 amazing years.
it was truly the honor of a lifetime to have the opportunity to create worlds and heroes for such a passionate audience. i want to express my deep appreciation to everyone at blizzard who supported our games, our game teams and our players. but i want to say a special thanks to the wonderful game developers that shared in the journey of creation with me.
never accept the world as it appears to be. always dare to see it for what it could be. i hope you do the same.
gg,
jeffrey kaplan
Kaplan will be succeeded by Aaron Keller, who has been with the Overwatch team since its inception. Here's his letter to the Overwatch community, also on the same website post:
Greetings, Overwatch Community,
Jeff's been a great leader, mentor, and friend, and he knows how much we’re going to miss him. I've been lucky to work alongside him and the rest of the Overwatch team for many years in building something that continues to inspire people all around the world, and I'm honored to carry the torch forward.
I love Overwatch. From our first pieces of concept art, to the first maps we built, to the first time I was able to run around as Tracer (who at that early point shot laser beams out of her eyes), this game has just clicked with me. I love its inspiring, hopeful, beautiful world worth fighting for. I love its characters—larger than life, colorful, powerful, and global. And most of all, I love the fast, fluid gameplay requiring teamwork, situational awareness, and quick decision making.
I also recognize that making games at Blizzard has always been a group effort and never about just one point of view. Together with the rest of the team I feel fortunate that we have a deep bench of development and creative leaders, numerous veteran Blizzard artists and designers, and some extremely talented new blood as well—along with tons of support throughout the company for the live game and for Overwatch 2.
Speaking of Overwatch 2, development is continuing at a good pace. We have an exceptional vision we’re executing on, the reaction from many of you to the updates we shared at BlizzConline thrilled us, and we have exciting reveals planned for this year and beyond as we ramp to launch. We'll be sharing more frequent updates about Overwatch 2 progress and new features in the live game with you all very soon.
While I have no pretenses about filling Jeff's shoes, I'm excited to step into the game director role and continue to be part of a team that's putting all of its heart, talent, and focus into the next iteration of Overwatch, and I'm honored to continue serving this incredible community.
-Aaron
Kaplan's sudden departure is a shocker, arguably the most surprising exit since CEO Mike Morhaime left the company in 2018. It's stunning mainly because Overwatch 2 is such a high-profile project on Blizzard's upcoming release list. Overwatch 2's development has already been slowed significantly due to outside factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and is not expected to release in 2021. However, as Keller noted in his letter, there will apparently be news on the Overwatch 2 front in the months ahead.
It also can't be overstated how much of a central community figure Kaplan was. He was the face of Overwatch, personally appearing in various patch videos, frequently speaking to the Overwatch player base, and even showing up in special yule log streams. He was long-recognized as the unmoving figure on the chair in front of the Christmas fire, which proved to be so popular that Blizzard would keep the tradition going for years.
The ramifications of Kaplan's exit will be felt throughout Overwatch for a long time, especially as Blizzard kicks off a new season of the Overwatch League and prepares for the game's eventual sequel. Shacknews will monitor this story closely as it unfolds.