Jeff Kaplan, the former Overwatch director and one of the most recognizable faces behind Blizzard's hero shooter, has said he has removed the game from his life more than five years after leaving Blizzard. In an interview with GameSpot, Kaplan said he avoids information about the project he led and that moving on from that period was less difficult because he had already been through a similar situation with World of Warcraft.
Kaplan started at Blizzard on the World of Warcraft quality assurance team and later became director of the MMO. In 2009 he left that role to lead Project Titan, Blizzard's next MMORPG. The idea did not come together, and from its remains he began developing, with Chris Metzen and a small team, the concept that would become Overwatch, released in 2016.
He described leaving the WoW team as "training" for his later departure from Overwatch. Kaplan left Overwatch in April 2021 and said he was already somewhat used to the moment when a developer realizes what it means to give a project everything. He argued Overwatch was not "just a job" and described the realization that the game did not belong to him but to the team, the players and Blizzard.
Since saying goodbye to the community on the game's official subreddit, Kaplan said he has not read anything about Overwatch. He does not watch YouTube videos about it, search for his name in connection with it or look up anything related. He said he has effectively disconnected and tells algorithms he is no longer interested, even though they may still identify him as the Overwatch guy.
Kaplan presented The Legend of California in March 2026, an open-world survival shooter set during the Gold Rush in the Old West. The game will be published by Dreamhaven, the company founded by Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime.
Sources: Vandal.