Jeff Kaplan

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Jeffrey "Jeff" Kaplan is a US game developer and serves as the vice president of Blizzard Entertainment . He became known as a designer for the computer game World of Warcraft and as a game director for Overwatch .

Early life

Kaplan was a keen gamer even in high school, and was particularly drawn to adventure games from video game developer Infocom . Due to a lack of programming experience, however, he did not see his future in the computer game industry. Kaplan initially pursued a degree in film, but then opted for a degree in creative writing from the University of South Carolina . After interning for Universal Pictures , he decided to graduate from New York University . On the side he worked in his father's recruiting business and tried to publish his own stories. However, he failed for several years, with 170 of his applications rejected in one year alone. In 2000 he stopped creative writing, invested his time in video games and started playing around with editing programs (map editor or similar) on games like Duke Nukem 3D and Half-Life .

Career

Kaplan started playing the MMO Everquest . Using his online name Tigole , he joined the Legacy of Steel guild . He made a name for himself through his achievements there and posting comments about the game on the guild website. He also discussed his attempts to create his own maps there, which caught the attention of guild leader Robert Pardo, who was Blizzard Entertainment's lead game designer for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos at the time. Kaplan knew at the time that some of the guild members were working at Blizzard, but at the time he did not realize the importance of the company for the game industry.

In 2001, Pardo invited Kaplan to visit Blizzard Entertainment's Los Angeles headquarters. During the visit he was introduced to the other guild members who worked at Blizzard, who in turn presented him with the unannounced MMORPG World of Warcraft . Then there were similar meetings for several months. When World of Warcraft was finally announced, Pardo Kaplan recommended applying to be a Quest Designer for World of Warcraft. Kaplan quickly realized that the job description matched his experience and that his previous visits to Blizzard were like informal interviews. So he decided to apply and was hired in May 2002.

Kaplan's work at Blizzard helped ensure the quality of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos just weeks before it was released. After the game was released, he joined the team behind World of Warcraft and became one of the two quest designers with Pat Nagle. He worked very closely with the Game Creative Director, Chris Metzen . In addition to quest design, Kaplan's work specialized in the elements of the environment in the virtual game world. He described himself as the bridge between Metzen's creative elements and the programmer and artist on the level design team. After a long time Kaplan was promoted to Game Director for World of Warcraft with Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack .

In February 2009, Kaplan announced that he would give up his role as Game Director of World of Warcraft to become Game Director of the not-yet-announced MMO Titan . Kaplan made this decision because he hoped Titan would become as successful as World of Warcraft and because he was beginning to doubt the continued popularity of World of Warcraft . Titan was a class-based first-person shooter that was developed internally to be very unstable and unstructured. According to Kaplan, Titan was ultimately very confusing and confused, so development was officially canceled in September 2014, but internally as early as 2013.

All Titan project members , apart from 40 employees, were reassigned to other projects. Among those 40 were Kaplan and Metzen, who were instructed by management to come up with suggestions for a new game, or else they would be reassigned to other projects. Kaplan, Metzen and their team took on parts of the gameplay and creative elements of Titan for the first-person shooter Overwatch . After it was accepted by the company management of Blizzards and Activision, Kaplan was appointed senior game director and Metzen was appointed game creative director. The game became a huge success for Blizzard shortly after its release, grossing over $ 1 billion for the company in its first year alone, and entertaining more than 30 million players worldwide. Kaplan took an example from senior game director for Hearthstone , Ben Brode, and became Blizzard's "face" for Overwatch. He regularly posts in the official Overwatch forums and publishes so-called developer updates , videos about the current state of development and information about the future of the game.

Games

Year of production Game title Function in the project
2002 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Designer
2004 World of Warcraft Game director and designer
2007 World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Designer
2008 World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Designer
2013 Titan (development canceled) Designer
2016 Overwatch Game Director and Senior Designer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Tack: From Guild Leader to Game Director Part 1: Landing A Job At Blizzard. In: Game Informer. March 30, 2016, accessed September 24, 2017 .
  2. ↑ http://www.glixel.com/interviews/9-things-you-didnt-know-about-blizzards-jeff-kaplan-w455480
  3. ↑ http://legacyofsteel.net/#/members
  4. ↑ http://www.gameinformer.com/games/world_of_warcraft_cataclysm/b/pc/archive/2009/12/02/blizzard-s-jeff-kaplan-on-warcraft-s-past-and-future.aspx
  5. ↑ https://www.engadget.com/2009/02/12/jeff-kaplan-leaving-world-of-warcraft/
  6. ↑ http://www.glixel.com/interviews/9-things-you-didnt-know-about-blizzards-jeff-kaplan-w455480
  7. ↑ http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/23/6833953/blizzard-cancels-titan-next-gen-mmo-pc
  8. ↑ http://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/game-designer-jeffrey-kaplan-failed-big-but-hes-back-on-top/
  9. ↑ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-14-blizzards-jeff-kaplan-traces-line-from-project-titan-to-overwatch
  10. ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/297480/Activision_Blizzard_sees_record_Q1_earnings__80_of_which_came_from_digital_sales_.php
  11. ↑ http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-28-overwatch-now-has-30m-players
  12. ↑ http://www.glixel.com/news/overwatch-director-jeff-kaplan-is-freaked-out-by-his-fame-w483939
personal data
SURNAME Kaplan, Jeff
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaplan, Jeffrey (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American game developer
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century