In light of the recent controversies faced by Activision Blizzard, it seems a reference to former Game Director Jeff Kaplan has been removed from a map in its upcoming first-person shooter, Overwatch 2. Though Kaplan has not been named in any of the allegations against the company he once helmed, the removal of this reference is in line with its intention to eliminate direct references to present and former developers in both the past and the future.
Last Saturday, Overwatch 2 put out a trailer announcing changes to everyone's favorite bird-loving omnic sentry, Bastion. Keen-eyed Redditor CeeLo38 noticed that a shop in the background of the map from the video had appeared during a PVP livestream earlier this year; and that the shop's name has seemingly lost the "Jeph's" from "Jeph's Corner Pizza."
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Overwatch 2 had previously shown that there were two other references to Kaplan in its maps: a coffee cup commemorating his first Starbucks visit at Blizzard where his name was misspelled as "Jeph", and a copy of a fictitious book The Green Hills of Stranglethorn–a reference to an infamous World of Warcraft quest that Kaplan had made. While the fate of these easter eggs is currently unknown, it would be safe to bet on the removal of the name "Jeph" the cup before the game is launched, if not the whole reference altogether.
While it is technically possible the absence of the reference is because of the demo was taken on a previous build before "Jeph" was added to the pizzeria’s name, it is more likely that the homage was intentionally removed. Back in August, Blizzard announced that it was planning on changing the name of the gun-slinging hero, Jesse McCree, in light of the eponymous developer's involvement in the allegations and subsequent dismissal.
The Overwatch team put out a statement of intent alongside this announcement indicating that they would "no longer be [naming in-game characters] after real employees," and would be “more discerning about adding real world references in future Overwatch content.” The removal of the reference to Jeff Kaplan is more than likely collateral on this promise.
Blizzard's habit of cameos and homages has caused it a lot of problems in the past few months. A number of Blizzard big shots, many of which had numerous references scattered across Overwatch and World of Warcraft, have been called out in specific instances of sexual harassment and discrimination. Over the past months, the various teams of the company have been scrambling to scrub any references of the likes of Alex Afrasiabi, Jesse McCree, and Luis Barriga from its games.
Some players are not happy with the removal of homage to these developers in games like Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft. However, the developers named in the lawsuits shared similar fame and stardom: a fact that was directly cited as something that lead to the sexual discrimination and "frat boy" culture that got Blizzard in trouble in the first place. By removing all references to any living persons from its game, Blizzard is safeguarding itself from having to scramble should there ever be future incidents like the ones unveiled in July's first lawsuit.
Overwatch 2 is in development for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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