Former Overwatch Game Director Cut All Ties With the Game After Leaving Blizzard to Preserve Peace of Mind

The developer is now focused on a new project.

Former Overwatch development lead Jeff Kaplan has not returned to his old game since leaving Blizzard Entertainment. He is now working on a new project, The Legend of California. In an interview with GameSpot, he said he deliberately asks algorithms not to show him content related to the Overwatch franchise.

Kaplan left Blizzard Entertainment in 2021 after 19 years. He says the “break” with Overwatch was easier for him because he had already been through something similar with World of Warcraft.

At that time, WoW was his whole life: “If I wasn’t working on WoW, it meant I was playing WoW. And during play sessions I had a notebook next to me, where I wrote notes so that in the morning I could come in and say: ‘This is what we need to change.'”

Image source: Blizzard Entertainment

For the sake of his own “peace of mind,” Kaplan now avoids Overwatch material. He does not watch YouTube videos about the game and has stopped reading related forums: “I’m basically telling all the algorithms: ‘I’m no longer interested in Overwatch.'” He still takes pride in the work he did, and he sometimes looks at photos from BlizzCon 2014, where the team announced Overwatch. He calls that day “one of the most special days of my life.”

Kaplan explains that Overwatch now belongs to the players and the new development team, while he is working on The Legend of California.