Patricia is the former editor-in-chief of Kotaku, where she spent a decade writing and editing. Prior to that, she served as the Culture Editor at Polygon, and as a reporter at The Verge. Hernandez specializes in Pokémon TCG, Nintendo, and offbeat internet culture stories.
The hero shooter's former Game Director dishes on Blizzard's decision to announce Overwatch 2 in 2019
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Former Blizzard game director Jeff Kaplan left the company five years ago, but the studio's Overwatch fumbles are still fresh in his mind, judging by frank remarks he shared during a podcast. In it, the former face of the hero shooter described what was happening behind the scenes leading up to Blizzard's surprise announcement of Overwatch 2. Kaplan said there was deep dysfunction at the executive level within the company.
Kaplan appeared on an episode of Gaming World Interviews, and the conversation inevitably turned to his time at Blizzard and his "really sad" departure from the company — and everything that led up to that decision.
"I never in a million years thought I would ever quit... that's how important it was to me," Kaplan said.
The early days of Overwatch were happy, Kaplan said, but things changed after the game became successful. Suddenly, executives at Blizzard and Activision started taking an active interest in its ongoing development. Once former Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime left the company, Kaplan opined, Overwatch's creators started to lose control of the game's direction at the hands of a "revolving door" of clueless executives.
Fans may recall that Overwatch was originally billed as a long-term, live-service shooter that would keep improving without needing a sequel. Instead, Overwatch fans found themselves in the middle of an unexplained content drought. Kaplan alleged that this sudden shift in priorities happened because the team was told they couldn't design new heroes for the game. Instead, the team had to begin work on Overwatch 2.
Kaplan said that he tried to reason with upper management at Blizzard and Activision by reminding them of his successful track record. By Kaplan's estimation, however, those executives approached Overwatch with a sense that they had something to prove — even if they didn't truly understand the appeal of the game.
"From 2018 until the day I left, it was just constant fighting with the executive staff," Kaplan recalled.
Overwatch 2 at Blizzcon 2019
The announcement of Overwatch 2 led to a "huge fight" with the suits at Blizzard, Kaplan said. "I'm like, what are we doing? Like we don't really know what this game is, we don't know the business model. This is a huge mistake."
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Another point of contention for Kaplan was that executives decided to announce a sequel players didn't want at the same time as Diablo 4. In doing so, Blizzard prevented either game from soaking up the spotlight they deserved.
"And I'm like, you guys are fucking idiots, you know?"
About a year and a half after Overwatch 2's announcement, Kaplan left Blizzard. He said that by that point, despite being the game's director, he didn't have much power over the vision or its execution. This helplessness was worsened by the public's verdict on the game, which many considered a betrayal of Blizzard's original promise. As the face of the game, Kaplan was used to taking heat over Blizzard's creative decisions. Doing so became much harder when he wasn't truly responsible for the new direction.
"I'm tired of fighting, and I don't want to put my name on a project I don't believe in anymore, which is tragic because I have a lot of pride," Kaplan recalled thinking at the time.
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Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
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