Flats Reacts To 'Blizzard Dev Leak Explains Why Jeff Kaplan Quit'

►Edited by and thumbnail done by: R3trohowling

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[Phobie_]

I’ve never seen a company fuck over one of their games, dev teams, AND fanbases so harshly.

[MeteorFalcon]

Jeff had such a love for the Overwatch franchise. He was probably the most heartbroken about the current state of PvE.

[aetlaslegacy]

As a softwares dev myself I've been noticing the thinning senior dev ranks.

IMO it is exactly the corporate "How do I make money now, and squeeze as much as I can out of my employees?" that is killing the industry from the inside. Very few devs are given the tools to grow their knowledge and experience into a senior position. Instead, entry level devs are being burnt out and job swapping for competitive wages, because the way they are being treated isn't sustainable.

[nailinthefashion]

Flats on main: we're chillin and vibin

Flats on the side: let's get this tea y'all

[josephreynolds]

Young, inexperienced devs means less money paid to them. The quality drop because these young devs are pushed into this code that they can't fathom because they aren't experienced. This is how labor works. The companies need to foster talent, not drain it to give junior devs some thin bones in compensation. The product doesn't come out the same.

[Matt-pzwe]

Having worked in the corporate world for well over a decade now, I can bet you that Jeff was "quiet fired". Activision wanted to replace creative types with business types for profit margins. As Sam said in his video, it's probably best that companies that make art not be publicly traded. The c-suite most likely made him constantly report on schedule, cost, risk, etc. at multiple levels above him. I've seen it done multiple times to senior leaders that weren't making numbers under a new regime, they make life miserable until you quit on your own and they can replace you in a less ugly way than firing.

[kykyisurpapi]

i just joined overwatch a few months ago and i already want to leave 💀

[shruggggg]

they really "redefined what a sequel is" by giving us an updates the game needed 4 years ago and calling it a sequel...

[Real_MisterSir]

For clarification of the "bad because new devs are young?"

While young devs tend to bring in new fresh takes and approaches to stuff like hero and map design, ability interaction etc, they often lack the necessary experience with dev workflow and scope as well as raw experience with the tools used like the game engine, lacking the understanding of the different departments within the team that need to speak together, feeling increased pressure from handling shifting deadlines and being moved around by upper forces, etc etc.

This usually takes a year or two for a fresh dev to gain solid foothold in a new position as a young developer in an existing team of a major corpo environment, hence why seasoned devs are always so valuable for big companies to hold onto - yet many corpos fail to do so out of greed and attempts to min-max their bottom line they fail to see the qualities that spread sheets can't tell them in their monthly management meetings. 2 young devs won't add up to the experience of one senior dev (generally speaking). But on a spread sheet it looks good to have doubled staff and then expect double workload - or at the very least *more* work to be done than before. In reality it just means that for a long while, there will simply be more legs that stumble over each other, than before.

[lukaslambs]

So sad this is all happening, but I still hold Jeff in very high regard. He along with the community at large deserved so much better!

[xgucx]

I hate having people settle for "it's better than nothing". Eating molded bread is better than nothing, that doesn't mean you can get away with feeding us that to save yourself from spending your fortune.

[DoctorPhilGud]

Imagine selling a game before its finished, then announcing youre "not going to finish it, but thanks for all the money"

[KandiKid]

I can only say this: I remember when OW debuted. For me, it was a welcome change of flavor amid all the common servings. And then OWL happened and holy shit it was amazing. Then, something changed and OW dropped. A LOT of the old players left the scene [many never coming back] and it felt empty. Then comes the "sequel". With the hopes of players returning, new ones coming up, it seemed like a bit of a revival. Unfortunately, here we are.

[GBENZ_]

flats, i'm holding you to tell us the jeff freedo beef in 5 years

[butter_]

Flats laughing hysterically any time Freedo mentioned how he annoyed Jeff is making me really want to know the story.

[kratosdertoten]

Also ngl, seeing Jeff's leaving memo again made me tear up. Makes me think of what OW could have been if Jeff was allowed creative freedom.

[Not_Ciel]

I’m so glad to hear that this small indie company was able to double it’s dev team from 4 to 8 devs. Thanks, Blizzard 🙏🏻

[gerharddamm]

Ow never had a chance. The old devs just wanted to iterate on Titan for another 10 years and saw OW as a stepping stone in that process. Meanwhile, Activision/Kotick just wanted the most aggressive/fast monetization possible.

[gimpgumby]

Honestly I’d be surprised if Blizzard wasn’t working on AI generated content to cut costs. Why pay someone to design a new skin if you can type “Robo-cop Cassidy” into a program?

[harmny_]

With them cutting PVE for money’s sake they’ve pretty much showed their hand as a company that cares more about making a profit than offering something worth playing. And that’s fine. They traded the thing most Overwatch players wanted the most in exchange for money, so now they’ll see the people who don’t care about the BP or skins fading out when they put less emphasis on unique modes and events and more emphasis on just pumping out whatever they can to make money. If that’s the route they want to take up top, then that’s the route they’ll take. And I hope it does bite them in the ass, because now the entire community doubts their commitment to making an entertaining game and their ability to offer something genuinely unique. They’re just not going to be able to keep up the hype as the seasons go on.