In a moment where the question of greatness is usually deflected into lists and qualifications, Overwatch co-creator Jeff Kaplan offered something rarer: a direct answer. Speaking with Lex Fridman, Kaplan named The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the greatest game ever made — not as hyperbole, but as a considered verdict from someone who has spent a career thinking about what makes games work. His praise points toward something the medium rarely achieves: a world so coherently designed that player instinct and game logic become indistinguishable.
Overwatch Co-Creator Kaplan Hails Breath of the Wild as 'Greatest Game Ever Made'
The world is a toy, and everything works as you wished and hoped
Mark
When Kaplan says Breath of the Wild is the greatest game ever made, is he speaking from a designer's perspective or as a player?
Mimi
Both, I think. He's analyzing it the way a craftsman analyzes another craftsman's work. He sees the intentionality in every system.
Luke
But he's one person. The Game Awards voting is broader, though still a specific group. We should be careful about treating his opinion as settled fact.
Mark
Fair point. But what does he mean by "the world is a toy"?
Mimi
He means you can interact with almost anything in unexpected ways. Chop a tree, float it. Burn grass, ride the updraft. The game doesn't say no.
Luke
That's a design philosophy, though. Some players might find it overwhelming or prefer more directed experiences. His "greatest" is his greatest.
Mark
So why does he think Nintendo specifically achieves this?
Mimi
He credits their institutional commitment to craft. They're not chasing trends. They're solving problems at the deepest level.
Luke
That's an observation, not an explanation. Why does Nintendo's culture produce this and other studios don't? That's the harder question.
Mark
And the fact that it surpassed Ocarina of Time—does that surprise you?
Mimi
It surprised Kaplan, and he's spent his career making games. If someone at that level is amazed, it's worth noting.
Luke
Ocarina of Time was 1998. Breath of the Wild was 2017. Technology changed, design philosophy evolved. They're not directly comparable, even if one is better.
Mark
But Kaplan's point is that most games don't get better across generations. They get different.
Mimi
Exactly. He's saying Nintendo didn't just iterate. They reimagined what a Zelda game could be.
Der Puls
- Kaplan breaks from the usual hedging of 'greatest game' debates and places Breath of the Wild unambiguously at the top — above classics, above Ocarina of Time, above everything.
- The tension in his praise is almost philosophical: how does a successor surpass a game that already defined an entire generation of 3D adventure design?
- He points to small, inevitable-feeling interactions — chopping a tree to float down a river — as evidence of a design philosophy where the world behaves exactly as a curious player hopes it will.
- Most games, Kaplan argues, succeed at one or two things; Breath of the Wild succeeded at nearly all of them simultaneously, forming a coherent whole rather than a collection of strengths.
- The Game Awards appear to agree — Breath of the Wild's Game of the Year win, coming the year after Overwatch's own, positions it as the likely champion if every winner were ever pitted against each other.
In a moment where the question of greatness is usually deflected into lists and qualifications, Overwatch co-creator Jeff Kaplan offered something rarer: a direct answer. Speaking with Lex Fridman, Kaplan named The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the greatest game ever made — not as hyperbole, but as a considered verdict from someone who has spent a career thinking about what makes games work. His praise points toward something the medium rarely achieves: a world so coherently designed that player instinct and game logic become indistinguishable.
Jeff Kaplan, co-creator of Overwatch, sat down with Lex Fridman and dispensed with the usual hedging: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is, in his view, the greatest game ever made. He acknowledged a tier of classics beneath it — Zork, Ultima — but made clear the distinction mattered. Those games are great. This one is something else.
What separates it, Kaplan argued, is the totality of its execution. He pointed to small, telling details: the ability to fell a tree and ride it as a raft down a river, interactions that feel obvious once discovered yet required genuine imagination to conceive. The world, he said, functions like a toy — one where player instinct and game logic are in constant, satisfying agreement. That alignment, he noted, is far rarer than it sounds.
His deepest wonder was reserved for what Nintendo had managed against its own legacy. Ocarina of Time didn't just define 3D adventure gaming — it was foundational to an entire generation. And yet Breath of the Wild surpassed it. Kaplan posed the question earnestly: how is that even possible? His answer pointed to density of excellence. Most games, if lucky, get one or two things right. Breath of the Wild got nearly everything right — environmental design, physics, player agency, freedom of approach — not as isolated strengths, but as a coherent whole.
The Game Awards offered their own endorsement. Breath of the Wild won Game of the Year the year after Overwatch claimed the same prize, and the sense within the gaming community is that in any imagined tournament of winners, Zelda would likely emerge on top. Kaplan's conviction, it seems, was never his alone.
Jeff Kaplan, the co-creator of Overwatch, sat down with Lex Fridman and made a claim that cuts through the usual hedging of "greatest game" conversations: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is not merely among the contenders. It is the greatest game ever made.
When asked which titles belong in that conversation, Kaplan didn't equivocate. He placed Breath of the Wild at the apex, then acknowledged a separate tier below it—one that includes classics like Zork and Ultima. The distinction mattered to him. Those other games are great. This one is different.
What sets it apart, in Kaplan's view, is the totality of its execution. "Every aspect is so thoughtful, so well designed," he said. He pointed to specific moments: the way a player can fell a tree and use it as a raft down a river, small interactions that feel inevitable once you think of them, yet required someone to imagine them in the first place. The world functions as a toy, he explained—a space where your instincts about how things should work align with how they actually do. That alignment is rarer than it sounds.
What struck Kaplan most was the sheer difficulty of what Nintendo had accomplished. He posed it as a genuine puzzle: "How can Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time exist, and somebody make an even better Zelda game?" Ocarina of Time had defined 3D adventure gaming for an entire generation. It was not merely good; it was foundational. Yet here was a successor that didn't just match it—it surpassed it. Kaplan's wonder was not rhetorical. He seemed genuinely asking how such a thing was possible.
The answer, he suggested, lay in the density of excellence. Most games, if they're fortunate, nail one or two core ideas. They get the combat right, or the story, or the pacing. Breath of the Wild got nearly everything right. The environmental design, the physics interactions, the freedom of approach, the way the game respects player agency—these weren't isolated strengths. They formed a coherent whole. "There are so many things that that game gets right, that other games are lucky if they get one of those things right," Kaplan said.
He framed Nintendo itself as the standard-bearer. "Nintendo is the mecca, they're the best," he said. When Nintendo releases something, you can expect excellence. It's not a guarantee that every title will resonate with every player, but the craftsmanship is assumed. In Breath of the Wild, that institutional commitment to quality had produced something that transcended the usual category of "great game" and entered something closer to a landmark.
The Game Awards later validated this assessment, at least by one measure. Breath of the Wild won Game of the Year the year after Overwatch claimed the same prize. If you were to pit every Game of the Year winner against each other in some imagined tournament, the sense in the gaming community is clear: Zelda would likely emerge at the top. Kaplan's conviction, spoken in conversation, had already been echoed by the industry's own voting body. What remained was whether players, years later, would continue to agree.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
There are so many things that that game gets right, that other games are lucky if they get one of those things right.— Jeff Kaplan
How can Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time exist, and somebody make an even better Zelda game?— Jeff Kaplan
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