Jeff Kaplan: Criticizing Games You Don’t Play? Just Stop—Nobody’s Listening.

There’s a corner of the gaming community that takes the existence of a game they’re not interested in as a personal affront, and they’re not shy about expressing it. Jeff Kaplan, the former director of Overwatch and now working on the western survival game The Legend of California, had some strong words for these critics during a Twitch stream of his new project: “Shut the f*** up. No one cares.”

Kaplan dedicated 10 hours to streaming The Legend of California on the Twitch channel of his new studio, Kintsugiyama, over the weekend. During the session, he addressed the hostility and rudeness he’s noticed from commenters about games they have no intention of playing. He pointed out that this kind of negativity isn’t going to prompt developers to change course and create the game you want; it’s more likely to result in being ignored.

Kaplan’s take on those who complain about games they’ve never tried is clear:

“I never understand being hostile about it or being rude about it, but I understand being upset, and I understand voicing your opinion. But if a game comes out that you don’t want to play and you’ve never played it, shut the f*** up. No one cares. We don’t need to hear that you weren’t into it. What’s with this, ‘oh my god, I’m so upset they decided to make this game that I have no interest in’? Who cares about my opinion if I’m not gonna play it, and if I’ve never played it? Why does my opinion matter on that? I’ll tell you what it does, as a game developer that’s been in charge of teams who has the ability to do something about it, I just f***ing ignore you. That’s all you’ve accomplished. I guess I’m not gonna listen to you anymore because you’re so off the deep end that it’s not even worth listening to you at that point.”

While it’s unlikely to change the behavior of those who engage in this kind of criticism, it’s refreshing to hear Kaplan speak candidly now that he’s no longer with Blizzard and can set his own terms for public engagement. He recently shared that he left Blizzard due to increasing pressure to meet revenue targets, which could lead to layoffs that he would be held responsible for. Now, he’s at Kintsugiyama, focusing on The Legend of California.