He’s definitely not wrong. This also happens in other industries where you have virtue signalers that don’t contribute anything at all talking shit about things they don’t understand because dogpiling on a hot topic equals dopamine.
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
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He probably isn’t wrong but when you present your work, it will be subject to criticism. Even if the criticism is annoying as fuck, it’s going to happen.
Games should be criticized and if companiess don't like it, they should make better games instead of being greedy assholes that churn out overpriced enshittified half-finished garbage.
Yeah if you dont want criticism then you cant publish. Just play it by yourself with your dev team lol.
Like bröther you are trying to sell something, people will look at things before they buy them duh???
There is still a legitimate reason to debate about the tone and intention of criticism.
Problem is that enough people who receive fair criticism and can't handle that, call it unreasonable and unfair and thereby muddle the debate massively.
The era of features no one wants seems directly aligned with the era where CEOs openly insult their customers.
- Huge empty map. Check.
- Base building. Check.
- Mining. Check.
- Fortifications. Check.
- Horses. Check.
- Guns. Check.
- Multiplayer. Check.
- Not giving a fuck about feedback from people about your tone deaf game. Check.
The spirit of highguard lives on
Where did they talk about the game aside from the mention at the beginning of the article? This isn't a breakdown of the game they're making.
It's a breakdown of a guy leading the production of a shitty game complaining about people who speak negatively about shitty games without paying for them first.
The most generous interpretation is that he knows his game is going to get shit on from a great height and it's already bothering him.
This article is directed at you. Why have a strong opinion about it if it's not your thing? I like survival crafting games, and I think Kaplan is an incredible game designer, but I probably won't play this one because I'm not a fan of the setting. I even agree that the game looks uninspired. But I'd put money on the game feel being fantastic. Jeff knows there will be outrage because there always is. Kaplan left Overwatch when Act-Bliz-King forced a lot of bad changes to the game, and he knows his reputation is tied to that game even after having no involvement in the worst aspects of it.
If you don't like that guy's opinion then why criticize it? Its not your thing so why have a strong opinion about it?
The point of Kaplan's (offhand) comment is that there's a social media environment constructed around posting outrage about games/movies/shows that you don't actually care about. The point of these 'criticisms' is garnering attention and monetizing it. It's devolved into slinging vitriol at anything deemed progressive, and was (no joke) pioneered by conservatives deeply involved in the current US administration back during Gamergate.
The link in the article takes you to the steam page for the game, has a trailer and the rundown thereof
Only thing the game page doesn’t clarify about is PvP, makes it seem like the multiplayer is more coop than versus but I can’t speak to the availability or lack thereof
Not that I’d be enticed to go dig deeper if that’s what they want to tell the world before their game is even out.
It's funny how really good games somehow never have this problem.
Apparently the Principal Skinner meme is not well know enough still.
Every release in every type of media has this problem, it doesn't matter if it's good or bad. There will always be vocal haters who weren't going to consume the media in the first place
Are you high? This is especially prevalent in big releases of objectively good games. Ghosts of Tsushima is woke! Overwatch enshittified! Resident Evil isn't catering to its core audience because the protagonist isn't sexy! Kaplan knows what he's talking about when he pushes back against gamer outrage culture. Tigole Bitties used to be PART of it!
Overwatch did enshittify, tho. Particularly after Kaplan left.
OW is honestly in a pretty good place at the moment as long as you don't spend money on the super expensive crossovers. They backtracked on the worst changes with OW2, though they still won't have a good PvE any time soon, if ever.
But about after Kaplan leaving: ABK was pushing to make a sequel and to make the game push monetization harder. Jeff knew that wouldn't be good for the game and fought against it. He was told straight "If the game doesn't make X million next quarter, we're firing 1000 people, and it'll be your fault." So he made the correct decision and left. The game continued down that path but the last person you could blame is Kaplan.
I specifically don't blame Kaplan. He was the dyke holding back the sea of shit Blizzard execs were pushing.
Fyi a dike is a dam; a dyke (derogatory) is a lesbian.
Dyke is a ditch; like a barrow pit.
It's also a type of rock.
Kaplan is a great admirer of the vaunted philosopher, Paris Hilton:
There is no sin worse in life than being boring and nothing worse than letting other people tell you what to do. — Paris Hilton
I was into it until you assholes shit all over Overwatch, and I'll complain about it as much as I like.
Also, fuck Activision and Blizzard.
Hear that sound? It's the sound of the other shoe dropping.
For years we've suspected that these executives have been making soulless games not for gamers, but for shareholders.
We suspected they didn't give a fuck about gamers; here's one actually saying it.
"We don't need to hear that you weren't into it" was also a common sentiment expressed on Epstein island, now that I think about it. Maybe someone should search the Trump-Epstein files for this guy's name. And either way, pay close attention to him in the future. This guy may be going places. Hopefully cell block one.
Whozzat?
former Blizzard vice president and game designer Jeff Kaplan made his first public appearance since leaving the World of Warcraft and Overwatch developer in 2021,
Oh. Anyway, we like to shit on games we won't play because we like to expose our (sometimes lack of) reason to do so. Diablo Immoral? No, thanks, stick that shit up your ass. Pretty easy to ignore people that loudly declare "I'll never play XYZ", so no need to get worked up over that
"It's not difficult to shit on something," Ford said on-stream. "Apparently, it takes a ton of courage to say, 'Hey, I actually like this thing. I don't care that you don't like it. I like it.'"
Yeah, because we have seen how brave people have to be to say that they loved Baldur's Gate 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring or Outer Wilds. Oh wait, no, people have praised those games to exhaustion.
Unnecessary roughness in internet discourse isn't a new phenomenon by any means, but we're now living alongside a media ecosystem that thrives on loudly, insistently, and often preemptively declaring that a game is dead and irredeemable instead of, you know, ignoring something you're not interested in. While no single game developer's frustration will do much to change it, it's nice to know when your exhaustion is shared.
Fair point, the ragebait and engagement bait are fucking tiresome. Even the most civilized person becomes little more than an angry monkey with a keyboard when browsing the internet.
Haters gonna hate, Lovers gonna love, I dont even want none of the above, I want to piss on you, yes I do I really do I'll pee on you.
Having read the article and watched the clip they linked, I agree with him.
People are way too free with their criticisms, even when they haven't even interacted with what they're criticizing in any way.
Yeah, for the people that read the article, it's obvious he's talking about trolls, not actual players of the game.
Kaplan was also the reason overwatch was ever any good, and he fought to keep 6v6 going and was fired for pushing back against the ceo
People are also apparently interpreting this as a public statement and not an offhand remark he made during a conversation on a live stream. I expected the media literacy to be better on the fediverse but I guess not
We'll see. I do give a fuck about what's installed on my computer. Some complaints are worth sharing, specially if they help other consumers and devs can later correct mistakes.
Taste in games is subjctive. But there are 0 reasons not to voice personal concerns about the game. If we only accept positive feedback, it makes it super easy to control public opinion?
Sensitive much?
This has happened before and it will happen again. Jeff, just stop complaining and carry on with your life.
He made conversation during a live stream, he didn't put out a public statement lol
Live streams aren't exactly private.
A "public statement" is not any statement made in public
They are also not the only way to communicate with the public.
Either you are missing my point or I'm missing yours.
It's an article about a single comment from a 10-hour stream and "news" outlets and people in this thread are acting like Jeff Kaplan emerged from hibernation to release a statement on signed letterhead complaining about complainers.
No I got your point, I just found it facetious.
Official press releases are not the only way information is conveyed to the public. He knows that. He doesn't go on a live stream to say things and expect people not to hear it. He goes on a live stream for a purpose. Claiming that somehow statements don't count because they're not on a letterhead is absurd.
Anyone who says "no one cares" knows that everybody cares.