Jeff Kaplan leaving World of Warcraft

by Elizabeth Harper Feb 12th 2009 at 2:48PM

In a surprise announcement this afternoon, World of Warcraft's Game Director Jeff Kaplan (whom you may know from the forums as "Tigole," and whom those of you with a longer memory may remember as the guild leader of Legacy of Steel back in the EverQuest days) is leaving the WoW team to work on a their unannounced MMO. (What this means for how far along that project is it's hard to say -- are they perhaps bringing in a solid game designer because they're just now getting things started? Or to polish off the finishing touches?) Says Kaplan of his time with the World of Warcraft team:

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.

World of Warcraft isn't going anywhere, however, as the rest of the team is remaining in place, including Kaplan's "partners in crime" Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack.

Mr. Kaplan, while we haven't always agreed with you, we'll certainly miss having you around. And, since you're going, we have to ask... can we have your stuff?

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, breaking, j-allen-brack, jeff-kaplan, jeffrey-kaplan, kaplan, next-gen, next-gen-mmo, tigole, tom-chilton

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)

Kylenne Feb 13th 2009 1:33AM

I'm pretty sure both those replies were really just long ways of saying no one gives a damn.

jbodar Feb 13th 2009 5:24AM

I think it was "feel free to report this" part that set off the "center of the universe" detector, but hey, whatever. Maybe we'll see you again in "World of Warcraft 2: The Search For More Money" ;)

Johnzim Feb 12th 2009 3:03PM

WoW has amazing polish and fantastic mass appeal.

That said, I still declare fealty to the UO vision for MMORPGS and as such it's a bit sad that Blizzard's next game will be similar to WoW (or Tigole'y).

WoW is EQ's spiritual successor, I'm still waiting for UO's.

And please not Darkfall. I'd like an MMORPG that will actually be released at some point.

Naix Feb 12th 2009 3:05PM

This is beginning of the end for WoW. Once the new MMO comes out blizzard with switch it's development focus and WoW will become stagnant.

Jon Do Feb 12th 2009 3:14PM

I strongly suspect that Blizzard has already switched their design focus away from WoW.

kala Feb 12th 2009 3:06PM

Whoa, i cant recall where, but someone in a wow podcast predicted exactly this some time ago.

Sad & bad news, hes the one core guys from he beginning of WoW.

T Feb 12th 2009 3:07PM

Wait, you mean there won't be any more narcissistic in-game items from a guy who's name is short for Tigolebitties? Wow, what a sad day to have such a giant of the field leave to work on something else. Of course, now this means his asshattery and in-game self-references will just appear in the unannounced MMO.

I wonder if there will be hybrid classes in the new game, or if he'll finally get his childish way and have them all removed? His behavior in Everquest a shining example of the Greater Internet FWad Theory in action.

Kylenne Feb 12th 2009 4:51PM

Is that seriously where his name comes from?

Suddenly, so many things about WoW make sense. And I need to take a shower or something. Eww.

Vandell Feb 12th 2009 3:08PM

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

Vontrapp Feb 12th 2009 3:20PM

This isn't news, it's just link baiting. When I saw this, my first reaction was OMG Jeff Kaplan is leaving?! Then I re-read it... oh, he's not leaving, he's just shifting from World of Warcraft to Universe of Starcraft or rather the "Unnamed MMO" that Blizzard is working on.
This would only really be "news" if Kaplan was leaving Blizzard. Nothing to see here folks, just move along.

musicjunkie300 Feb 12th 2009 3:29PM

@vontrapp

I would disagree with you on the following basis:

this is wowinsider.com (world of warcraft) not blizzardinsider.com

therefore mr. kaplan is leaving. fact.

Nemesis Feb 12th 2009 7:37PM

Yeah he's leaving, he'll have 0% to do with WoW now. I hope the next MMO is truly next gen, if it's a revamped version of WoW I think I'll stick to WoW.

wtom Feb 12th 2009 3:10PM

UO already has a spiritual successor (IMHO) - Eve Online.

Player controlled economy, best items are player crafted, persistent player placed structures in normal game world, scaled, open pvp, skill-based system with offline skill gain. No strict class system.

Scott Feb 12th 2009 3:55PM

You can already see this happening. Anybody who has the collector's edition of WotLK will notice a few big names missing from the credits that used to be there, most notably Samwise Didier.

IIRC, Blizzard refers to most of it's people as directors of the particular game they're involved with currently. I went back and looked at the books for my other collector's editions (all of WoW and WC:III) and his name was listed as a director in Art for all of them. Odd how he suddenly would not be credited for any of the art assets or character design in Wrath.

That having been said, I'm not sure Tigole leaving is going to have the negative impact people insist it will. Regardless of what people say, their personal biases will always cloud an issue and his biases were the stuff of legend. His character name alone (Tigole Bitties) speaks of incredible immaturity. I mean seriously...Bigole Titties? You've got to be kidding me.... His antics on the Nameless server set back non-pure classes almost a full development cycle.

Jon Do Feb 12th 2009 3:10PM

This could be taken as a "WoW is now a legacy product" announcement. No telling how many other WoW people have already left, or will soon (which would explain the shakiness of the last couple of patches).

Since 3.0 I have gotten the feeling that Wrath feels like a 'final' expansion. Blizzard is probably counting on the WoW cash cow for new development funds, and no doubt will be trying to build a bridge between WoW and the "Unnamed Next Gen MMO". Maybe you'll get to bring over your Achievement points...

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