Former Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan Ignores Everything About Hero Shooter Following His "Almost Clinical" Departure 5 Years Ago: "I don't search my name in Overwatch. I don't search for Overwatch. I kind of just cut off contact."

Former Blizzard Developer Continues Working in the Industry.

The former Blizzard developer has moved on.

When you make a purchase through links on our site, we may receive an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.

Despite the big changes that have happened to Overwatch recently, former game director Jeff Kaplan hasn't touched it since he left Blizzard. In fact, he actively avoids the game any way he can, he told GameSpot in a recent interview.

Prior to Overwatch, Kaplan rose through the ranks on the World of Warcraft team, starting as QA and eventually becoming game director. He described his departure from the WoW team in 2008 as a "training moment" for when he would leave the Overwatch team, and Blizzard in general, in 2021.

"It was a bit of a shock when I left WoW in 2008," says Kaplan. So when I left Overwatch in April of 2021, I was used to that moment where you give your all, your heart, your soul — because it's not just a job, there's no one who can do it and it's just a job — and then you have this heartbreaking moment where you realize it's not about the players, it's about the players, it's about you. But it's not yours."

Kaplan says he had an "almost clinical breakup" with Overwatch after what he went through with WoW. As a result, he stopped playing it the moment she left him and has been actively avoiding it ever since.

"After saying goodbye to competitive Overwatch and the Overwatch Subreddit, I'm never going back and reading," he says. "I don't watch YouTube [videos]. I don't search my name on Overwatch. I don't search for Overwatch. I just disconnect. I actually tell all the algorithms, 'Yeah, I'm really not into Overwatch anymore.' I know you think I'm the Overwatch guy, but that's not me anymore."

A look back at 10 years of Overwatch, promises made, and where Team 4 goes from here.

"I love it, but we're cheap and poor": Jeff Kaplan is up to speed on everything players need to know about his upcoming cowboy survival game, California Legend.

Overwatch's stoppage in stadiums may be even bigger than in PvE

In an interview earlier this year, Kaplan said he fully expected to retire from Blizzard, but the company's former CFO broke him down by threatening to lay off 1,000 people if Overwatch didn't meet certain financial goals. Kaplan called that meeting "the biggest moment of my career, it felt surreal."

Kaplan went quiet for several years before re-emerging with a new studio and a new open-world survival cowboy game called The Legend of California, which he is directing alongside former Blizzard developer Tim Ford. He says the new game is an opportunity to discover more personal things for him for the first time. "I didn't leave Blizzard to make a Blizzard game. I left Blizzard to make a Tim and Jeff game."

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Stay up to date with the most important stories and best deals, as selected by the PC Gamer team.

Contact me for news and offers from other upcoming brands Receive emails from us from our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information, you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy and you are 16 years or older.

Tyler has been covering video games and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While he specializes in RPGs and MMOs, he looks to cover all kinds of games, be they broken, beautiful, or weird.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please log out and back in, then you will be prompted to enter your display name.

Marathon Director Leaves Bungie Just 4 Months After Launch: 'I'm Going To Something New, Somewhere Else'

Facepunch director Alistair McFarlane, who once offered to buy Amazon's New World and lied to us about Rust 2, has left the company.

Overwatch's old Battle Passes are finally coming back for good starting next month, but some rewards will be removed.

If he made New Blood Dusk 2, Iron Lung wouldn't exist, and now David Szymanski has a movie that's grossed $50 million, so maybe there's some wisdom in making sequels.

The rise of first-person shooters introduced a frontier of uncontrolled video game level packs and resulted in litigation that changed copyright forever.

Wardogs will bribe players with cash and XP to choose the Blue Team in Season 2

Crown the best FPS mode of all time through 1v1 battle (ROUND 2)

'My idea of Netflix doesn't work for games': Mod Garry's successor is getting 'extensive changes'

Legendary composer Frank Klepacki says the RTS genre isn't dead, but he'd like to see developers get a little more creative with it.

GTA 6 leaker threatens Take-Two with 'dead man switch'

Ace Combat Zero is getting its own standalone app on Steam, freeing it from the 136GB installation of Ace Combat 8.

The Walking Dead's Chandler Riggs Made a Resident Evil 7 Short Film, Though It's 'Impossible to Please Everyone'

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced was a huge success, and now it's time for some big layoffs at the studio behind it.