This is how Jeff Kaplan was known in recent years: In video updates he reported on changes in Overwatch.

After 19 years, Jeff Kaplan is turning his back on his employer Blizzard Entertainment – leaving behind many shocked fans and surprised fellow developers. The game director of Overwatch and Overwatch 2 announced his departure in a short statement, at the same time naming his successor.

What does the future of Blizzard look like and what role does Diablo 4 play in it? In the Plus interview, we talked to the company bosses about these topics:

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More on the topic

Jeff Kaplan is leaving – what does this mean for Overwatch 2?

In his farewell, Kaplan refers to his nearly 20-year career at Blizzard as the “honor of a lifetime” and thanks all the company’s fans and employees. He also chooses his last words carefully:

“Never accept the world as it seems to be. Always dare to see it for what it could be. I hope you do the same.”

The words are from his Heart project OverwatchTo be more precise, from the cinematic trailer “Recall”, which provides insights into the past of character Winston. We have embedded the short film for you once again:

Overwatch – Render short film “Recall” with Winston

New boss for Overwatch 2: Jeff Kaplan was the game director in charge of Overwatch and its successor. His position will henceforth be taken over by Aaron Kellerwho had previously been Kaplan’s right-hand man as assistant game director.

He reiterated in an initial statement that the development of Overwatch 2 is progressing well. The team is pursuing a great vision and they have more announcements planned for this year.

Fans and developers express shock

Since the announcement of Overwatch at Blizzcon 2014, Kaplan was considered the face of the shooter brand and showed himself constantly close to the fans. Again and again, he spoke in sometimes very detailed videos before major updates about upcoming innovations and explained why the developers changed certain things. In 2017, he also sat in front of a fireplace on Twitch for ten hours while tens of thousands of players watched him.

Therefore, the news of his departure has hit countless fans on social networks and forums. On Reddit the mood is saddened and quite a few users write that they will miss Jeff Kaplan.

Link to Reddit content

Twitter shows a similar picture, with of course many users wishing the ex-game director only the best for the future and thanking him for his work on Overwatch.

Not just fans: In addition to gamers, fellow developers are also showing surprise at the announcement. For example, God of War director Cory Barlog, who commented on the news with a simple “woah”:

Craig Morrison, Principal Lead Designer at Blizzard, goes into more detail. He was once hired by Kaplan for Blizzard’s secret project Titan. Before he could actually start his job, however, Titan was discontinued. Kaplan then called him immediately and introduced him to the WoW team, where Morrison still works today:

Also affected is Maikol Brito, who works at Blizzard as Lead Observer for the Overwatch League. For him, Jeff Kaplan was one of the most optimistic and honest people he had ever worked with:

Where Jeff Kaplan is headed in the future, he has not yet revealed in his statement. One path could possibly lead him to Dreamhaven. The studio was launched in 2020 by former Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime, among others:

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Only time will tell what happens with Overwatch 2 in the future. Most recently, the shooter had been talking about itself at Blizzcon 2021 and GameStar writer Mary had renewed hope.

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