Only Overwatch Fans Will Understand The Director's Goodbye
After nearly 20 years at Blizzard, "Overwatch" director Jeff Kaplan has exited the company. While Kaplan has given a number of goodbye statements, one in particular has stuck out to longtime players.
In an email to Carolina Ravassa, the voice actress for Sombra in "Overwatch," Kaplan simply sent her the word "boop," a reference to one of the character's most iconic voice lines. Ravassa shared the email on Instagram, captioning it with, "It's the little things that make me smile... thank you [Jeff] for giving us this world worth fighting for."
The Instagram post was screenshotted and shared on the "Overwatch" subreddit, where fans responded to the exchange. In particular, u/Dejaduu shared their love of the game's voice performances: "One of the things I love about "Overwatch" is the voice acting," they wrote. "I find myself having a much stronger connection to 'Overwatch' characters then most games and a large part is because of the [voice actors]."
Blizzard announced Kaplan's departure on April 20 in a blog post. The post contained a statement from Aaron Keller, a founding member of the "Overwatch" development team who will be taking over for Kaplan, as well as a statement from Kaplan himself.
"Never accept the world as it appears to be," Kaplan wrote. "Always dare to see it for what it could be. I hope you do the same." While it's unknown exactly why Kaplan left, his departure and statements have received an outpouring of support from fans all over.
Kaplan made a post on the "Overwatch” subreddit thanking the community there and asking them to take care of the development team for him. u/valdogg21 responded, "You will be missed." Another commenter u/TopVis wrote, "Jeff, your passion for the game has been infectious. Good luck on whatever you pursue next, and thank you for the work you put into this game."
The toxic parts of online gaming communities can sometimes be the loudest of all. However, the outpouring of love and support of Kaplan has been seemingly universal amongst "Overwatch" players, particularly in response to his email to Carolina Ravassa.
Kaplan's departure comes during a transitional period for the "Overwatch" franchise, as "Overwatch 2" continues to be worked on. While fans have been excited for the sequel, "Overwatch 2" has taken longer than expected to come out, and is not expected until 2022 at the earliest. Luckily for fans, there are a good number of games like "Overwatch" to make the wait a bit easier.