What Jeff Kaplan has said about Blizzard Entertainment
2 quotes · 1 episode · Mar 11, 2026
Jeff Kaplan, American video game designer known for World of Warcraft and Overwatch at Blizzard Entertainment; co-founder of Kintsugiyama, has been quoted on Blizzard Entertainment 2 times in 1 episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, most recently on March 11, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.
In their words
Kaplan recounts that a Blizzard CFO told him that if Overwatch did not hit revenue targets, a thousand layoffs would be on him, which ended his Blizzard career.
“We're going to lay off a thousand people and that's going to be on you. And that was just the biggest fuck you moment I had in my career”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #493 – Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming (Mar 11, 2026) · Listen from 4:22:50
Kaplan attributes Blizzard's greatness to being run by three gamer-programmers who shielded developers from business pressures.
“It was run by three gamers. They were all three of them programmers. They made the games before they just ran the company”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #493 – Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming (Mar 11, 2026) · Listen from 4:29:54
Episodes
#493 – Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of GamingLex Fridman Podcast · Mar 11, 2026
Former Blizzard designer Jeff Kaplan tells Lex Fridman about his path from failed writer and EverQuest player to World of Warcraft, Titan, Overwatch, and his new studio's game.
Jeff Kaplan on other topics
- The Legend of California · 2 quotes
- Titan (cancelled video game) · 2 quotes
- Online toxicity · 2 quotes
- Quest-driven game design · 2 quotes
- Artificial intelligence · 1 quote
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild · 1 quote
- Overwatch League · 1 quote
- Overwatch · 1 quote