Former Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan Slams Players Criticizing Games They Don’t Even Play
· Vice
Former Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan recently told players to stop complaining about video games they never had an interest in playing. According to the former Blizzard executive, developers do not actually listen to accounts being overwhelmingly negative online.
Jeff Kaplan Says Some Players Should “Shut the F Up”
Screenshot: Blizzard EntertainmentKaplan originally made the comments while livestreaming his new project The Legends of California, and the clip quickly spread across social media. The Overwatch’s dev’s rant happened after he responded to a comment about toxic online discourse in the games industry. According to Kaplan, people should “shut up” more often if they are complaining about a game they have no interest in actually playing.
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“I understand being upset. I get voicing your opinion. But like if a game comes out and you don’t want to play it, and have never played it, shut the f**k up. No one cares. Like we don’t need to hear that you weren’t into it. What is with this ‘oh my god I’m so upset they decided to make this game that I have no interest in.’ Who cares about my opinion if I’m not going to play it? And if I’ve never played it, why does my opinion matter?”
Screenshot: X @CultureCraveInterestingly, Jeff Kaplan then revealed that negative feedback online actually has the opposite effect with game developers. At least in his time at Overwatch, it didn’t get them to change anything.
“I’ll tell you what it does. As a game developer who was in charge of teams, who has the ability to do something about it. I just f*g ignore you. That’s all you’ve accomplished. I’m not going to listen to you anymore. Because you are so off the deep end that it’s not even worth listening to you at this point.”
Overwatch Director’s Comments Divide Players
Screenshot: Blizzard EntertainmentTo be clear, Jeff Kaplan was not saying players should stop giving critical feedback. He was specifically talking about users who have no interest in a game and were never going to play it. Despite this, his comments about players shutting up immediately went viral on social media. Many gaming fans had strong reactions to it.
“I don’t think I will shut up. It’s perfectly ok to complain and be upset when things you do not enjoy are being created by companies that could spend their time creating stuff you would like,” a user on X replied to Kaplan, for example.
Another commenter wrote, “I mean you can comment on things you don’t have direct experience with by viewing them secondhand. Should everyone go spend 70 dollars on a game they’re being told is bad so they can confirm for themselves that it is bad? I don’t know about that.”
Screenshot: Blizzard EntertainmentHowever, not everyone disagreed with the Overwatch developer. Some players jumped into the discussion and supported Jeff Kaplan’s sentiment. Interestingly, many brought up the recent downfall of Highguard as an example of overwhelming negativity flooding a game from players who aren’t actually playing it.
Kaplan’s comments also highlight an ongoing debate in the gaming industry about online criticism, review bombing, and how developers interpret player feedback.
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