Jeff Kaplan Says He Has Not Touched Overwatch Since 2021 Exit
Jeff Kaplan has not played Overwatch since he left Blizzard in April 2021.
The former director of Overwatch, who spent nearly 20 years at the company, described the break as an "almost clinical separation" in comments published on 14 October 2026. He said he never goes back. GameSpot
He means it literally. Kaplan said he has not logged into the hero shooter, a game built around teams of characters with distinct abilities, since his departure. He also avoids everything around it. No subreddits. No YouTube videos. No searching for Overwatch, or for his own name alongside Overwatch.
That discipline comes from experience. Kaplan worked on World of Warcraft, Blizzard's long-running online fantasy game, for six years before leaving that team in 2008. He left in November or December 2008 to join Titan, the cancelled project that was reworked into Overwatch. Stepping away from Warcraft hurt more, he said. The Overwatch exit was cleaner.
Blizzard announced his departure on 20 April 2021 in a post titled "New Leadership for Overwatch." Blizzard Aaron Keller, described by Blizzard as a company veteran, was confirmed as the new director for Overwatch 2 shortly afterwards. GameSpot
Kaplan has since started again elsewhere. His new game is titled The Legend of California. It is in development at Kintsugiyama, the studio he joined after Blizzard.
The team held an alpha test, an early playtest used to check core systems, on Steam from 26 to 30 March 2026. GameSpot Steam is one of the main digital shops for PC games. Kintsugiyama is targeting a 2026 launch for an early-access version on Steam and the Epic Games Store, meaning players can buy and play the game while it is still in development. GameSpot
For fans, this means two separate stories now. Overwatch continues under Keller and the current Blizzard team. Kaplan's next chapter sits entirely with Kintsugiyama and The Legend of California, with no return visit in between.
