Jeff Kaplan on Life After Overwatch and Fixing Those Busted Ladders

Ever wonder what Jeff Kaplan has been up to since stepping away from Overwatch? Turns out he's been busy running an indie studio and wrestling with some seriously busted ladders.

Kaplan recently sat down with GameSpot for a rare interview, and he had plenty to say about his post-Overwatch life. These days he's heading up Kintsugiyama, the dev studio behind The Legend of California, which he describes as an "FPS action multiplayer" Wild West survival title. That's quite a shift from the hero-shooter world he's known for, but it sounds like exactly the kind of challenge he was looking for.

If you've noticed Kaplan hasn't been front and center lately, that's apparently intentional. According to the interview, his lower profile is by design rather than accident. After years of being the face of one of gaming's biggest franchises, it makes sense that he'd want to let the work speak for itself while he focuses on building something new from the ground up.

And that building process comes with its fair share of headaches, as any indie dev will tell you. The interview touches on fixing The Legend of California's busted ladders, which is the kind of unglamorous, nuts-and-bolts problem that defines indie development. No massive studio resources, no army of engineers, just you and a ladder that refuses to cooperate.

It's a refreshingly honest look at what life looks like after leaving a blockbuster team. Instead of coasting on past success, Kaplan is deep in the trenches of a smaller project, dealing with the everyday realities of running a studio and shipping a game. For fans who followed his work for years, it's a reminder that the people behind big games often crave something different once they step away.

The Legend of California is still the big question mark here, and details remain slim beyond its genre description. But hearing Kaplan talk about the grind of indie dev, ladders and all, gives us a sense of where his head's at these days.

What do you think, will you be keeping an eye on The Legend of California? And honestly, how many of you have been taken down by a broken ladder in a game before? Let us know in the comments.