Overwatch 2 map includes Easter egg tributes to Jeff Kaplan

Former Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan may have left Blizzard Entertainment, but his legacy — specifically, a goof about his name — will live on in Overwatch 2. During a gameplay livestream of Overwatch 2 on Thursday, new game director Aaron Keller, lead hero designer Geoff Goodman, and associate art director Dion Rogers showed off multiple maps coming to the hero shooter, including New York, Toronto, Rome, and Monte Carlo.

Overwatch’s New York map will include not one, but two tributes to Kaplan — he got his Master from NYU, by the way — including a rather dreary looking pizza place named Jephs Corner Pizza.

And lest you argue that that’s clearly an homage to someone named “Jeph” and not Jeff from the Overwatch team, here’s more evidence of the Blizzard’s ode to Kaplan: a coffee cup on a commuter rail train.

That coffee cup is, of course, a reference to the time that Jeff Kaplan ordered a decaf coffee at the Starbucks located on Blizzard Entertainment’s Irvine, California campus, only to be served a cup that read “Jeph.” Here’s Jeremy Craig, former lead feature designer on Overwatch, with the proof.

Overwatch 2 and Jeph/Jephs/Jeff’s Easter eggs are coming at an unconfirmed date.

Correction: This story originally misstated the name of new Overwatch game director Aaron Keller and has been updated.