•Jeff Kaplan, the former director of Blizzard’s Overwatch, says he has not played the game since April 2021 and considers his break from it a “clinical separation.”
Kaplan left Blizzard after nearly two decades to work independently. He told GameSpot that when he departed, he deliberately cut ties with the shooter he had been the public face of.
With Overwatch, I had a very almost clinical separation, knowing how the WoW thing had gone. I’ve literally not played the game since April 2021.
Jeff Kaplan
The comments came during an interview exploring his history with Blizzard and the creation of his new game, The Legend of California.
When asked whether he kept up with Overwatch after it dropped the “2” from its name and added 10 new heroes over the year, Kaplan said no. He described disconnecting entirely from the title he once directed.
I don’t, for my own psyche, I don’t read the subreddits. After I said my goodbye to competitive Overwatch and the Overwatch subreddit, I never go back and read. I don’t watch YouTube videos. I don’t search for my name in Overwatch. I don’t search for Overwatch.
Jeff Kaplan
Kaplan said he also actively signals to algorithms that he is no longer interested in the game.
I actually tell all the algorithms like, ‘Yeah, I’m not really interested in Overwatch anymore. I know you think I’m the Overwatch guy, but like, that’s just not for me anymore.’
Jeff Kaplan
The approach traces back to his 2008 departure from the World of Warcraft team, where he had spent six years. He said stepping away from WoW was more painful than leaving Overwatch.
Oddly, leaving WoW was a training moment for me. When I left WoW to work on Titan [the game that would eventually become Overwatch], it was, I think, November or December of 2008. And WoW was who I was at that point.
Jeff Kaplan
Kaplan recalled working “every waking minute” on the MMORPG and keeping a notepad by his desk to note changes he wanted made. He said stepping away felt “shocking in a very negative emotional way.”
Because of that experience, Kaplan says he was prepared for the moment of leaving Overwatch and understood the need to establish what he called a “healthy separation” from his former work.
I was kind of used to that moment of what it meant to give all of yourself, your heart, your soul—because it’s not just a job… then have this shocking moment where you realize it doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the team, belongs to the players, it belongs to Blizzard, but it doesn’t belong to you.
Jeff Kaplan
Kaplan said he was trying to avoid becoming Uncle Rico, the Napoleon Dynamite character who relives his football glory by watching game tapes.
I don’t want to be Uncle Rico. Overwatch happened. I was a part of it. There’s a group there now and Overwatch is now about them. Both the players and the developers, that’s their Overwatch now. They’re making it, they own it, they play it.
Jeff Kaplan
He says he has moved on to his new project.
I’m onto this new thing, and that’s where I’m at in my life.
Jeff Kaplan
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