Jeff Kaplan Reveals Shocking Reason for Leaving Blizzard and Overwatch

It's still vivid in our memories: the surprise announcement of Jeff Kaplan's resignation from Blizzard after a distinguished career spanning nearly two decades. As the director of Overwatch, Kaplan had become the beloved public face of the game, making it hard to imagine the popular competitive multiplayer title continuing without him. Almost five years have passed since his departure, and the long-awaited reasons behind his decision have finally come to light. The revelations are quite shocking, and it's understandable why he chose to forge his own path afterward.

During a recent five-hour-plus interview on Lex Fridman's podcast, Kaplan delved deep into his career in the video game industry, his tenure at Blizzard, and ultimately, the circumstances surrounding his exit from the company. He revealed the following:

In 2016 and 2017, I felt in control of the Overwatch team and the game as its director, working with Ray Gresko as production director. We felt we were incredibly successful, doing good work, and I believe the fans were happy. The Overwatch League arrived with the best of intentions (my parents always say the road to hell is paved with good intentions) and ended up being a burden. The same then happened with Overwatch 2.

And what finally destroyed my career at Blizzard was being called into the CFO's office. He gave me a date—which at the time was 2020 and would later be pushed to 2021, but at that moment it was 2020—and told me: 'Overwatch needs to generate [undisclosed figure] in 2020, and every subsequent year it needs recurring revenue of [undisclosed figure].' Then he said: 'If it doesn't earn that amount of money, we're going to lay off 1,000 people, and that will be your fault.'

Kaplan described this encounter as the 'most messed up moment' of his entire career. Immediately afterward, he realized he could no longer remain at the company. He clarified that, fortunately, the CFO in question no longer works for Blizzard.

This specific part of the interview, along with the full discussion, is available in English for those who wish to hear Kaplan's account directly.

Kaplan's experience serves as a stark illustration of the challenging times currently facing the video game industry, largely driven by executive and shareholder greed. Modern games are often expected to be more than just successful or sustainable; they must be 'mega-hits' generating massive daily revenue for the company. This unsustainable expectation not only proves unfeasible but has also led to a significant exodus of talent, the closure of numerous studios, and the cancellation of hundreds of promising projects.

As is widely known, the situation for Overwatch deteriorated following Kaplan's departure. Overwatch 2 consistently lost players, and the cancellation of its anticipated PvE modes deeply disappointed its community, leading many to migrate to other games like Marvel Rivals. The game has only recently begun to regain some of its lost popularity after a significant reinvention.

As for Jeff Kaplan, he recently announced his new game, The Legend of California, developed with his studio Kintsugiyama. It is envisioned as an open-world action-survival title set in a Wild West environment.

Overwatch is a free-to-play game with in-game microtransactions, available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Battle.net. It is also playable on current-generation consoles through backward compatibility.