#493 – Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming

Mar 11, 2026 0

About this episode

Jeff Kaplan is a legendary Blizzard game designer of World of Warcraft and Overwatch, now preparing to launch a new game, The Legend of California, from his new studio Kintsugiyama – available to wishlist on Steam today, with alpha later in March. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep493-sc">https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep493-sc</a> See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/survey">https://lexfridman.com/survey</a> AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ama">https://lexfridman.com/ama</a> Hiring – join our team: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/hiring">https://lexfridman.com/hiring</a> Other – other ways to get in touch: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/contact">https://lexfridman.com/contact</a> EPISODE LINKS: The Legend of California (Steam Page): <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2550530/The_Legend_of_California">https://store.steampowered.com/app/2550530/The_Legend_of_California</a> Jeff’s Game Studio: <a href="https://www.kintsugiyama.com/">https://www.kintsugiyama.com/</a> SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/s/fin-ep493-sc">https://fin.ai/lex</a> Blitzy: AI agent for large enterprise codebases. Go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/s/blitzy-ep493-sc">https://blitzy.com/lex</a> BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep493-sc">https://betterhelp.com/lex</a> Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-ep493-sc">https://shopify.com/lex</a> CodeRabbit: AI-powered code reviews. Go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/s/coderabbit-ep493-sc">https://coderabbit.ai/lex</a> Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/s/perplexity-ep493-sc">https://perplexity.ai/</a> OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (02:24) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (10:47) – Early games: Pac-Man, Zork, Doom, Quake (25:12) – Writing career – 170 rejection letters (40:45) – EverQuest obsession (53:43) – Getting hired at Blizzard (1:09:11) – Lowest point in Jeff’s life (1:15:16) – One of Us (1:19:33) – Early Blizzard culture (1:39:15) – Building World of Warcraft (1:56:59) – How WoW changed video games (2:14:21) – Single-player vs Multi-player (2:35:15) – How Blizzard made great video games (3:01:04) – Online toxicity (3:08:38) – Why Titan failed (3:25:48) – Overwatch in six weeks (3:52:46) – Best Overwatch heroes (4:01:16) – The challenge of matchmaking (4:04:40) – Rust (4:15:01) – Why Jeff left Blizzard (4:37:14) – Diablo IV (4:38:42) – Getting back to making video games (4:47:38) – The Legend of California (5:01:23) – Greatest video game of all time (5:09:30) – AI and future of video games PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/podcast">https://lexfridman.com/podcast</a> – Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://apple.co/2lwqZIr">https://apple.co/2lwqZIr</a> – Spotify: <a href="https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8">https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8</a> – RSS: <a href="https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/">https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/</a> – Podcast Playlist: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4</a> – Clips Channel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexclips">https://www.youtube.com/lexclips</a>

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