Jeff Kaplan si separa da Overwatch (e da Blizzard)!
Dopo quasi 20 anni di onorata carriera, il celebre Jeff Kaplan ha infine deciso di intraprendere una strada diversa rispetto a quella segnata da Blizzard, andando finanche a dimettersi dal ruolo di Game Director di Overwatch e di vice presidente del marchio.
I motivi che hanno spinto Kaplan verso questa decisione non sono ancora noti, ne è chiaro se e come proseguirà l’attività di sviluppatore dell’ormai ex Game Director in futuro. Quello che è certo è che al suo posto è stato inserito Aaron Keller, membro veterano di Blizzard nonché uno dei devs “fondatori” del team che Kaplan avrebbe diretto per Overwatch.
Lo stesso Keller si è immediatamente preoccupato di fare sapere alla community di giocatori di Overwatch che lo sviluppo del secondo titolo della serie procede spedito, e che nelle prossime settimane/mesi si preoccuperanno di aggiornarci pubblicando tutti i dettagli dei vari aggiornamenti.
I post dall’account Twitter di Kaplan
01000100 01100101 01100110 01100101 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01001011 01100101 01100101 01110000
— Jeff Kaplan (@realJeffkaplan1) April 20, 2021
never accept the world as it appears to be. always dare to see it for what it could be. i hope you do the same.
gg,
jeffrey kaplan”— Jeff Kaplan (@realJeffkaplan1) April 20, 2021
Ecco di seguito il messaggio pubblico condiviso questa mattina da Blizzard per rendere noto l’episodio:
We want to let you know that Jeff Kaplan has decided to leave the company after a long and storied career here, and that Aaron Keller, a Blizzard veteran and founding member of the Overwatch team, will be stepping in as game director.
Aaron has been a critical part of the Overwatch team and a key driver in creating the vision for the game. He helped create Overwatch as an original member of the team, and as an 18-year veteran at Blizzard, he has worked side-by-side with Jeff for a long time, not only in building Overwatch but previously in helping to build WoW as well. A few words from Aaron:
Greetings, Overwatch Community,
Jeff’s been a great leader, mentor, and friend, and he knows how much we’re going to miss him. I’ve been lucky to work alongside him and the rest of the Overwatch team for many years in building something that continues to inspire people all around the world, and I’m honored to carry the torch forward.
I love Overwatch. From our first pieces of concept art, to the first maps we built, to the first time I was able to run around as Tracer (who at that early point shot laser beams out of her eyes), this game has just clicked with me. I love its inspiring, hopeful, beautiful world worth fighting for. I love its characters—larger than life, colorful, powerful, and global. And most of all, I love the fast, fluid gameplay requiring teamwork, situational awareness, and quick decision making.
I also recognize that making games at Blizzard has always been a group effort and never about just one point of view. Together with the rest of the team I feel fortunate that we have a deep bench of development and creative leaders, numerous veteran Blizzard artists and designers, and some extremely talented new blood as well—along with tons of support throughout the company for the live game and for Overwatch 2.
Speaking of Overwatch 2, development is continuing at a good pace. We have an exceptional vision we’re executing on, the reaction from many of you to the updates we shared at BlizzConline thrilled us, and we have exciting reveals planned for this year and beyond as we ramp to launch. We’ll be sharing more frequent updates about Overwatch 2 progress and new features in the live game with you all very soon.
While I have no pretenses about filling Jeff’s shoes, I’m excited to step into the game director role and continue to be part of a team that’s putting all of its heart, talent, and focus into the next iteration of Overwatch, and I’m honored to continue serving this incredible community.
-Aaron
We’re also tremendously grateful for Jeff’s contributions over the years. Please see a personal note from Jeff below:
i am leaving Blizzard Entertainment after 19 amazing years.
it was truly the honor of a lifetime to have the opportunity to create worlds and heroes for such a passionate audience. i want to express my deep appreciation to everyone at blizzard who supported our games, our game teams and our players. but i want to say a special thanks to the wonderful game developers that shared in the journey of creation with me.
never accept the world as it appears to be. always dare to see it for what it could be. i hope you do the same.
gg,
jeffrey kaplan
You’ll hear more from Aaron and the rest of the Overwatch team soon. In the meantime, please join us in thanking Jeff, and in welcoming Aaron into his new role.
Cosa ne pensate community?
Un personaggio serio ed unico come quello di Jeff Kaplan è assolutamente insostituibile, e ci auguriamo che Aaron Keller riesca a non deludere le (già) tantissime aspettative, prendendo le redini della situazione e riportando Overwatch allo splendore della sua prima era.
La discussione, come sempre, è assolutamente aperta!
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