Overwatch community turns on Jeff Kaplan for reportedly botching OW2’s development
Blizzard EntertainmentOverwatch 2 players have changed their opinion on former game director Jeff Kaplan after a new report indicated he completely butchered the game’s development.
For ages, Jeff Kaplan was the beloved face of Overwatch. As the game’s director, he impressed players with his developer update videos and enthusiastic attitude toward the franchise.
Before Overwatch 2 was released, Kaplan left Blizzard. His departure saddened fans who had no idea why he would leave the company with a sequel to his game still in the works.
On September 29, journalist Jason Schreier held an AMA on Reddit to discuss his new book, ‘PLAY NICE: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment,’ and shared info about OW2’s development.
“Following OW1’s release, Team 4 began to run into a bit of a problem: they had too much work to do. They had to simultaneously: 1) keep making new stuff for OW1, which almost accidentally turned into a live-service game; 2) work on OW2, which was Jeff Kaplan’s baby and would have brought more players into the universe via PVE; and 3) help out with the ever-growing Overwatch League,” Schreier explained.
Robert Paul/Blizzard Entertainment“[Bobby] Kotick’s solution to this problem was to suggest that Team 4 hire more people. Hundreds more people, like his Call of Duty factory. And start a second team to work on OW2 while the old team works on OW1 (or vice versa). Kaplan and Chacko Sonny were resistant to this, because they believed pretty strongly in the culture they’d built (more people can sometimes lead to more problems and less efficient development), and it led to all sorts of problems as the years went on.”
During Overwatch 2’s development, content for the first game slowed to a crawl, with no new characters or maps being released for the hero shooter.
Additionally, the sequel’s main focus, ambitious PvE content, was cut completely. Following this, the planned story campaign was reportedly scrapped after the first batch of missions sold poorly.
Upon hearing this report about how Kaplan’s decision hindered Overwatch’s development, fans turned on the former game director and blamed him for OW’s problems.
I always had a hard time understanding people praising Jeff and calling his departure – the worst thing that could have happened to the game.
— Popcorp (@PopcorpGFX) September 29, 2024
Yet we had content draught and GOATS / Double Shield meta for years under his leadership… 😐
“I always had a hard time understanding people praising Jeff and calling his departure – the worst thing that could have happened to the game,” wrote Popcorp. “Yet we had content draught and GOATS / Double Shield meta for years under his leadership.”
“So OW1 could’ve had actual content if Jeff hired more people? Holy sh*t… its almost like it WAS Jeff Kaplan’s fault and he isn’t the savior that everyone made him out to be. Who could’ve guessed?” another chimed in.
“Massive Jeff Kaplan L. This dude was adored by the public for being funny on camera for devblogs while making sh*t decisions like this (and around balance philosophies) in private to the detriment of the game. He did not deserve the public praise he got and still gets from the casuals to this day,” Overwatch esports commentator AVRL remarked.
This isn’t the only major fumble exposed by Jason Schreier, either. Fans were also furious after learning Netflix canceled Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft series because Blizzard sued the company for poaching former CFO Spencer Neumann.