Jeff Kaplan Says Blizzard CFO Tied 1,000 Jobs to Overwatch Revenue Goals

Jeff Kaplan, the former director of Overwatch, has described receiving a direct ultimatum from then-Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin: hit specific revenue targets or 1,000 developers would lose their jobs. Kaplan traces the source of that pressure to the Overwatch League. The league attracted substantial outside investment, and according to Kaplan, it was pitched to team buyers in terms that far exceeded what the product could realistically deliver.

Kaplan shared the account in a recent interview with Lex Fridman, calling it "the biggest f**k you moment I've had in my career" and the event that ultimately ended his time at Blizzard. The exact revenue figures remain redacted under a confidentiality agreement Kaplan signed that is still in effect.

"Where it got away from us is that there was a lot of excitement about Overwatch League, like too much. It got overmarketed to the people buying the teams. They went on this roadshow where they had a deck, and you can put anything in a deck and sell anything, and they were pretty much selling the Brooklyn Bridge, that Overwatch League was going to be more popular than the NFL."

— Jeff Kaplan

The original business model depended on in-person events, ticket sales, and merchandise revenue. That structure collapsed quickly once the practical reality of running live events with teams based in London and Shanghai became clear. Merchandise performed adequately but generated nowhere near the NFL-scale returns investors had been led to expect.

With the external revenue streams underperforming, the pressure redirected toward the game. Kaplan describes Overwatch's internal roadmap — new heroes, new maps, live events — losing resources to feed the league's demands and accelerate the development of Overwatch 2. Features built specifically to support the esport, including Twitch integration and a spectator camera, consumed development capacity that had previously gone toward the live game.

"That pressure comes onto the team, and the pressure to ship Overwatch 2, and then all the care and love that we had for the live game and the live service — like let's make events, new heroes, new maps — we're losing all these resources."

— Jeff Kaplan

Kaplan described his departure as something he never anticipated. He had expected to spend his entire career at Blizzard and had considered retirement there a realistic outcome.

"I had believed that I would never work in any place but Blizzard. I loved it, it was a part of who I was, and I thought that I was a part of it. And I literally thought I'd retire from the place. I never thought the day would come, but that was it. Luckily for Blizzard, that CFO is no longer there."

— Jeff Kaplan

I think this sounds extreme, but it is worth waiting until Rockstar Games' NDA terms expire — at that point, whenever a major interview surfaces about the development conditions behind GTA 6, accounts like Kaplan's may start to look routine rather than exceptional inside large-scale game production.

Kaplan currently works at independent studio Kintsugiyama with a small team. The studio recently announced The Legend of California, an open-world survival game targeting Early Access release sometime in 2026.

I see the confidentiality agreement still covering the specific revenue numbers as the most unresolved detail here — without those figures, it is difficult to judge whether the targets Durkin set were aggressive but plausible or simply designed to generate pressure regardless of outcome.

Read also, Blizzard has officially announced Overwatch Rush, a mobile-first title built as a top-down hero shooter for touchscreen devices, marking the first time the franchise has moved into dedicated mobile development — the game is currently preparing for early testing.