It’s not often that real-world events can affect a game’s world, but that is exactly what is happening over at Blizzard. Given the recent turmoil at the company because of the lawsuits, alleged abuse, and firings, Blizzard is renaming the Overwatch hero McCree because of his namesake. Blizzard is even going to avoid naming any of its future characters after real-world people.
Jesse McCree, the cowboy hero that’s been in the online multiplayer game since its launch, was named after the Blizzard lead designer of the same name. As stated in a Wired video, the team chose that name after failing to come up with something else that stuck. But that real-life McCree was recently part of the multiple allegations leveled at Blizzard. McCree appeared in the infamous “Cosby Suite” image along with other people from company accused of different forms of misconduct. He was let go in early August.
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Given the negative connotations of the name, players were asking Blizzard to change the hero’s name. Overwatch League casters even started using aliases to describe the cowboy when commentating.
A message from the Overwatch team. pic.twitter.com/2W3AV7Pv6X
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) August 26, 2021
Blizzard finally responded to the criticisms and posted the above tweet. In said tweet, the company said it, in an effort to live up to its idea of “inclusivity, equity, and hope,” thought it was “necessary” to give McCree a new name to “better [represent] what Overwatch stands for.”
The developer did not give any prospective names, but did explain that it is thinking hard about the change so that it fits well with the lore so it might take some time. Blizzard also probably has rerecord a ton of voice lines and alter in-game files to reflect the new name, too, all of which will take time. The cowboy was apparently supposed to be a big part of an upcoming story in September, but Blizzard is delaying that narrative arc to make these changes.
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The Overwatch team then stated its commitment to having a “future worth fighting for” and that its actions on these kinds of topics speak louder than words.
