Diablo 4 may have played an unexpected role in Overwatch 2‘s troubled history, with former Blizzard director Jeff Kaplan criticizing the company’s decision to announce both games at the same time. Although Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 were among Blizzard’s biggest announcements at BlizzCon 2019, Kaplan believes the timing may have ultimately worked against his team.
The original Overwatch launched in 2016 and quickly became one of Blizzard’s biggest successes, attracting millions of players with its colorful cast of heroes and team-based multiplayer. Its popularity also inspired the Overwatch League, an ambitious esports competition that Blizzard hoped would turn the shooter into a global esports phenomenon. Meanwhile, the development team was exploring ways to expand the franchise beyond competitive multiplayer, including co-op missions and more substantial storytelling throughout the main game. Those ideas eventually became the foundation of Overwatch 2, although Blizzard’s plans for the sequel would prove far more complicated than anticipated.
Former Blizzard Developer Sheds Light on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2’s Development
Speaking in a recent interview with Gaming World Interviews, former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan criticized Blizzard’s decision to announce Overwatch 2 alongside Diablo 4 during BlizzCon 2019. According to his comments, Kaplan believed revealing both projects at the same event risked undermining their individual announcements, particularly because the Overwatch team hadn’t fully established what its sequel would become. The former director reportedly disagreed with moving forward before the developers had settled on a clear vision and business model. Rather than suggesting Diablo 4 directly took resources away from Overwatch 2, his criticism centers on the executive decisions surrounding the games’ announcements and the subsequent pressure placed on their development teams.
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Image via Blizzard -
Image via Blizzard -
Image via Blizzard
Those concerns appear particularly significant in hindsight. When Overwatch 2 was initially revealed, Blizzard promised a substantial expansion of the original game, including co-op story missions, replayable PvE content, and actual character progression systems. However, the sequel eventually launched in October 2022 as a free-to-play multiplayer shooter, with its ambitious Hero Missions mode officially canceled the following year to the disappointment of many fans. By April 2021, Kaplan had already departed Blizzard, later revealing that growing executive pressure and the demands of the Overwatch League contributed to his decision. Kaplan has even previously acknowledged that the finished sequel was “not the Overwatch 2 that we planned and announced,” highlighting just how far the project had drifted from its original ambitions.
While Overwatch 2 struggled to deliver on its original promises, Diablo 4 launched in June 2023 and has continued expanding through seasonal updates and additional content. Blizzard has since announced further support for the action RPG, including a new Amazon class planned for 2027, while Diablo 5 is already in development. Overwatch, meanwhile, has undergone something of a reinvention of its own. Blizzard dropped the “2” from the game’s title in February 2026, refocusing the experience around new heroes, regular updates, and a year-long narrative called The Reign of Talon.
Kaplan’s comments offer an interesting behind-the-scenes perspective on a particularly turbulent period in Blizzard’s history, although it would be difficult to attribute Overwatch 2‘s problems to any single decision. The sequel faced numerous challenges, from its expanding PvE ambitions and the demands of the now-defunct Overwatch League to mounting pressure from company executives. Announcing it alongside Diablo 4 may have complicated matters further, but the two games ultimately encountered very different obstacles on their way to release. More than seven years after BlizzCon 2019, both franchises are still evolving, even if neither has followed quite the path Blizzard originally envisioned.
- Released
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June 5, 2023
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
