{"id":93415,"date":"2026-10-16T13:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T05:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=93415"},"modified":"2026-10-16T13:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T05:43:05","slug":"former-overwatch-director-jeff-kaplan-goes-out-of-his-way-to-avoid-overwatch-subreddits-and-online-discussions-after-leaving-blizzard-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=93415","title":{"rendered":"Former Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan Goes Out of His Way to Avoid Overwatch Subreddits and Online Discussions After Leaving Blizzard Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan explained how he protects his psyche by completely avoiding online discussions and subreddits about Blizzard&#8217;s hero shooter.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">If you\u2019re a die-hard <u>Overwatch<\/u> player, you\u2019re likely familiar with the name Jeff Kaplan. He was essentially the face of the game for years, endearing fans with his regular developer updates and memorable interactions with its fanbase.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">After <u>leaving Blizzard in 2021<\/u>, Kaplan founded his own game development studio and is currently working on an open world, action-survival shooter called The Legend of California. He has firmly put Overwatch behind him \u2014 to the point where he avoids interacting with it at all costs online.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Overwatch &#8220;The Reign of Talon&#8221; New Hero Images<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2277167929 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cWith Overwatch, I had a very almost clinical separation, knowing how the WoW thing had gone,\u201d Kaplan said in a recent <u>interview with GameSpot<\/u>.  \u201cI\u2019ve literally not played the game since April 2021.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cI don\u2019t, for my own psyche, I don\u2019t read the subreddits. After I said my goodbye to competitive Overwatch and the Overwatch subreddit, I never go back and read. I don\u2019t watch YouTube [videos]. I don\u2019t search for my name in Overwatch. I don\u2019t search for Overwatch. I sort of just disconnect. I actually tell all the algorithms like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m not really interested in Overwatch anymore. I know you think I\u2019m the Overwatch guy, but like, that\u2019s just not for me anymore.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">He told the outlet that it was surprisingly more painful for him to leave the <u>World of Warcraft<\/u> team to work on Overwatch than it was to put the hero shooter in his rear view, calling it a \u201ctraining moment\u201d for taking the next step in his career.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cWoW was who I was at that point,\u201d he explained. \u201cI worked every minute, every waking minute, on WoW. If I wasn\u2019t working on WoW, I was playing WoW. And every time I played WoW, I had this notepad next to the desk that I\u2019d be filling out to walk in the next morning and go, \u2018These are all the things we need to change.\u2019 It was kind of shocking in a very negative emotional way to step away from WoW, because it was such a part of who I was and how I identified. It was who I was as a game developer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">After learning the hard way that the games he worked on didn\u2019t belong to him, but were instead an IP under Blizzard\u2019s ownership, it was easier for him to move forward.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cOverwatch happened. I was a part of it. There\u2019s a group there now, and Overwatch is now about them. Both the players and the developers, that\u2019s their Overwatch now. They\u2019re making it, they own it, they play it. I\u2019m onto this new thing, and that\u2019s where I\u2019m at in my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Kaplan hasn\u2019t shied away from sharing his thoughts on the current gaming industry since making his exit from Blizzard almost half a decade ago. Most recently, he had some harsh words for players who complain about games they\u2019ll never actually play.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;If a game comes out, and you don&#8217;t want to play it, and you&#8217;ve never played it? Shut the f*** up. No one cares,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">And in March, he revealed the reason why he actually left Blizzard behind, describing a specific meeting that he called \u201cthe biggest f*** you moment I had in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Image Credits: James Sheppard\/Edge Magazine\/Future via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"author-sign-off\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"author-sign-off\" data-cy=\"author-sign-off\"><span class=\"stack jsx-59817748 jsx-1927875859\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"rounded jsx-444076027 jsx-1730475047 profile-thumb jsx-2141281959 aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-1-1\"><img alt=\"Virginia Glaze Avatar\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image profile-thumb-img jsx-249361588 jsx-2338608387 expand\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/avatars\/6a3973ecf71dd1001d20de39\/XD1zX2FT-1782150223173.jpg?crop=1%3A1&amp;width=56&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=80 1x, https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/avatars\/6a3973ecf71dd1001d20de39\/XD1zX2FT-1782150223173.jpg?crop=1%3A1&amp;width=56&amp;dpr=2&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=80 2x\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"stack jsx-2509706801 jsx-3630940851\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"interface jsx-1132626198 sign-off-text\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Virginia (she\/her) is IGN\u2019s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she\u2019s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at <\/em><em>@TheeMissGlaze<\/em><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/section>\n<p><\/output><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/i-just-sort-of-disconnect-jeff-kaplan-is-avoiding-overwatch-at-all-costs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan explained how he protects his psyche by completely avoiding online discussions and subreddits about Blizzard&#8217;s hero shooter. If you\u2019re a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2839,5455,2626,18615,17939,17940,6899,500,4512,24307],"class_list":["post-93415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-avoid","tag-blizzard","tag-director","tag-discussions","tag-jeff","tag-kaplan","tag-leaving","tag-online","tag-overwatch","tag-subreddits","wpcat-32-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}