Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan Leaves WoW – So now what???
The quick news first, as you might have heard, Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan has announced that he is leaving World of Warcraft for greener pastures (well, technically an undisclosed MMO).
I wanted to take a moment to let the community know that I’ve switched roles here at Blizzard to work on our upcoming, unannounced MMO. World of Warcraft has been such a central part of my life these past six and a half years, and it’s success would not have been possible without the tremendous community around it, so I wanted to say thank you to all our players who’ve shared this amazing experience with us so far. Also, while I have served as the spokesperson and Game Director for World of Warcraft on Wrath of the Lich King, by no means would WoW be where it is today without the dedicated team that we have in place. The WoW development team is comprised of some of the most talented and experienced game developers in the world, and it was an absolute honor to serve amongst them, and they will continue to make WoW better than ever. I still plan to be very involved with the future course of World of Warcraft, but will leave the day to day operations of World of Warcraft to my partners in crime, Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack.
When all is said and done, WoW is still my favorite game. I play it every day. None of that passion is gone. If anything, it fuels the challenge of making our next MMO even better. We know we have some big shoes to fill. So thank you to everyone who has been so supportive over the years, and likewise, thanks to those who have given us pointed feedback on all areas of the game. Without all of the feedback and participation, WoW would not be the game that it has grown to be. Azeroth truly belongs to you and we’re lucky to have shared in your journey. And as always, I’ll still be lurking on the forums and in the game.
Mostly, I just wanted to say thanks. It has been an absolute honor.
Jeffrey Kaplan
Okay.. I’m not going to be completely cynical here, and we owe a ton of respect and well thoughts to Mr. Kaplan on his future endeavors. I really do. In a way, I feel kind of excited for him.
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to actually have a vision then create it, and finally see that vision warp over time, then you might have some insight into how exciting this new opportunity can be.
I’ll be honest seeing the reigns officially handed over to Chilton and Brack is interesting. Ever since BC and even through Wrath we’ve seen Kaplan become less and less visible. On the other hand, Chilton has become the “face” of WoW. And even Brack has been more visible lately (see his article in Wired).
But what I find to be the most interesting and poignant part of this announcement? Is the lack of mention of everyone’s favorite Lead Game Systems Designer, Greg Street (aka Ghostcrawler).
I don’t mean this to be a crack against Ghostcrawler, but I’ve read enough PR announcements to know when a prominant name is not mentioned, but lumped into a group “The WoW development team is comprised of some of the most talented and experienced game developers in the world…”
So where am I going with this? You see, I think we’ll eventually see Chilton taking a more active lead. Brack being more of a figurehead and probably leave for another game. And that would leave GC to become a more prominent voice and face. So, whether you like it or not, I expect a promotion for GC in the near future.
Finally, what about WoW. Well, Blizzard is obviously working on this secret project and by handing it over to Kaplan. In my opinion, we are looking at Blizzard desperately (yes, I feel desperately) looking to maintain and then replace an aging game that is heading down the same path of many MMOs before and after it’s creation.
