Everything is going super great at Blizzard Entertainment, and the proof of this can be found in the newest announcement of employment shakeups. Jeff Kaplan, a veteran of the studio who was until today serving as game director of Overwatch has apparently departed Blizzard after 19 years . Given that this is not even the first time this month that the studio has hemorrhaged important talent, you’d be well within your rights to wonder whether there’s something rotten in the state of the studio. Here’s the painfully brief farewell letter:
Kaplan will be succeeded by Aaron Keller, who was also a founding member of the Overwatch team. Keller’s note to the community promises that there will be more to share about Overwatch 2 in the near future, although we understand if fans are a bit more anxious in wake of the fact that Kaplan is out altogether .
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Further reading:
• Former designer for WoW, StarCraft II, and Diablo IV announces his departure from Blizzard
• Omar Gonzalez, a chief architect of World of Warcraft Classic, has departed Blizzard for Dreamhaven
• Massively OP Podcast Episode 314: Blizzard’s a hot mess
• Blizzard admits to more layoffs, starts up alumni network
• Activision-Blizzard has laid off another 190 employees as Kotick could rake in an extra $200M
• BlizzConline 2021: Overwatch 2 shows off New York City, visceral combat, and PvE content
• Activision-Blizzard Q4 2020: Activision’s revenues are up QoQ and YoY as Blizzard MAUs drop again
• WoW Factor: Does Blizzard have a messaging problem or a message problem?
• Activision-Blizzard lays off more support staff, this time in the Asia-Pacific region
• Blizzard loses Dave Kosak to new studio as confused players show up for WoW Shadowlands
• StarCraft II officially ends development as Blizzard ‘thinks about what’s next’
• Unions in Europe call on Blizzard employees in France to strike against the closure of the Versailles office
• Not So Massively: Reflections on Blizzard, one year after the Hong Kong fiasco
• Blizzard staffers confirm ‘honor point system,’ further exposing the company’s wage disparities
• ‘Our mentors are leaving in droves’: Blizzard staff are organizing to demand better compensation
• Blizzard staffers agitate against poor worker pay as Activision-Blizzard rakes in billions
• Activision-Blizzard shareholders say nay votes constitute ‘rebuke’ of company pay practices
• Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime laments World of Warcraft’s social unraveling
• Blizzard roundup: Michael Chu leaves Overwatch, Acti-Blizz gets a new COO, and WoW Classic drops a banhammer
• Activision-Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick downplays the role of politics in games
• Overwatch’s Jeff Kaplan thinks Blizzard’s Blitzchung punishment was too harsh
• Blizzard devs characterize layoffs as a ‘bloodbath’ as pro-unionization effort calls for Bobby Kotick’s resignation
• Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime will leave planned advisory role in April
• Mike Morhaime steps down as Blizzard president; J Allen Brack takes over
• Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode departs from Blizzard to form new game studio
• Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan on WoW Classic and the Overwatch toxicity ‘strike team’
• Overwatch’s Jeff Kaplan on how needing to babysit toxic turds slows down game dev for everyone
• How Project Titan and Overwatch prompted Chris Metzen to leave Blizzard
• Chris Metzen departs Blizzard, World of Warcraft for retirement
