Tag Archives: Jeffery Kaplan

According to a post over on the World of Warcraft forums, lead designer Jeffery Kaplan will no longer be working on Blizzard’s behemoth, but will instead shift all his focus to the company’s “unannounced MMO”.

Jeffery states that he will still be involved in the future progression of WoW, but that day-to-day work on the game will no longer be part of his schedule.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

If Blizzard is pulling Jeffery off of WoW, that can only mean one of two things: the new MMO is not progressing as they had hoped it, or it’s going to be huge. More than likely the latter.

You can read his full post over on the forums.

Blizzard may very well be the most powerful development house in the world right now, but wealth, fame, and shacking up with Activision definitely hasn’t gone to the developer’s collective head.

When asked by Kotaku about WoW’s inevitable successor, game director Jeffery Kaplan responded humbly.

“I believe it can be [as big as WoW],” he said. “… Are we going to make the right decisions? I don’t believe that just because we made WoW, we’re guaranteed on the next MMO that we make to have the same success.”

He also noted that WoW didn’t spring from Blizzard’s figurative womb with 10 million subscribers. He emphasized that the game, in a sense, had a five to six-year development cycle – and even more if you count its two expansions.

“I really believe you’re only as good as your last game. I really think you gave to prove it every time,” said Kaplan.

We may be jumping the gun a little, but we’re thinking WoW has earned Blizzard a little good will for its next title. Just a smidge.

By Nathan Grayson