Overwatch co-creator Jeff Kaplan on what led him to leave Blizzard Entertainment

Kaplan cites Overwatch League and corporate mismanagement as causes of the game's downfall.

Jeff Kaplan, who co-created Overwatch and served as the game’s lead director until his departure from Blizzard Entertainment in 2021, has shed light on his tumultuous late years at the company and what led to him eventually walking away. It boiled down to an overinvestment in Overwatch League, and internal pressure that became unbearable.

In a recent interview with Lex Fridman, Jeff Kaplan shared an anecdote from a meeting he had with Blizzard’s CFO prior to his exit from the company.

“He sits me down and he says— he gives me a date, which at the time was 2020 and was going to slip to 2021… and he said ‘Overwatch has to make [redacted] in 2020. And then every year after that, it needs a recurring revenue of [redacted].’ and then he says to me, ‘If it doesn’t do [redacted] dollars, we’re going to lay off a thousand people, and that’s going to be on you.’” Kaplan says that this is what "ultimately broke him” during his time at Blizzard.

Kaplan also spoke about Overwatch League, and how the esports league created new issues for the development team. "I don't know how to phrase this in a way that's not damning, but there was too much focus on 'let's make lots of money really fast' and a lot of people got drawn into it," he said. He said that the emphasis on Overwatch League pulled time and resources away from the main game.

Jeff Kaplan left Blizzard in April 2021 and was succeeded by Aaron Keller, who is still leading Overwatch. The game recently underwent another soft reset, rebranding back to “Overwatch” and releasing five heroes at once to kick off its new season.

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