Jeff Kaplan shares how he went from being a gaming industry icon to having his mails ignored by peers

Jeff Kaplan spent nearly two decades at Blizzard Entertainment , rising to the position of vice president while contributing to World of Warcraft as a core designer.

He later became one of the most recognizable figures behind Overwatch , serving as its lead director and public face. However, Kaplan left Blizzard in 2021 to pursue independent game development, eventually establishing his own studio, Kintsugiyama.

In a recent interview with Gamespot , the veteran game designer reflected on the challenges of moving from a major AAA developer to running an independent studio, describing the experience as “humbling.”

Over the past few years, Kaplan has largely stayed out of the spotlight, dedicating himself to developing Kintsugiyama’s first project, The Legend of California. His new role has brought a stark change in circumstances, from setting up server infrastructure in his dining room to finding that industry contacts who once sought his attention no longer respond to him.

“It’s very humbling because… you go from a lot of success. Like, think of World of Warcraft and Overwatch and the levels of success that those games have had. Also the level of success that I enjoyed personally in my career being associated with those games,” Kaplan told Gamespot.

Kaplan clarified that he was not claiming sole credit for the games he helped create, but rather pointing to what comes with spending 19 years at Blizzard.

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“You go from that success to essentially having the reset button pushed on you. You start completely from square one, at the bottom of the mountain,” he said.