McCree, the cowboy character in the Overwatch game, will be renamed on the grounds that the name McCree is named after a previous employee, who has left the company due to Activision Blizzard’s sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits. McCree’s full name is Jesse McCree, named after Jesse McCree, the chief designer of Diablo 4 in reality. Earlier this month, McCree and Diablo 4 game director Luis Bariiga and World of Warcraft senior designer Jonathan LeCraft left Blizzard.
A message from the Overwatch team. pic.twitter.com/2W3AV7Pv6X
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) August 26, 2021
According to the Overwatch official push, in view of this, McCree’s role will be renamed. Blizzard explained in the statement:
We created the universe of Overwatch around the idea that tolerance, equality and hope are the cornerstones of building a better future. They are the core of the game and the Overwatch team. As we continue to discuss how to best realize our values and demonstrate our commitment to creating a game world that reflects these values, we believe it is necessary to change the name of the hero currently known as McCree to more representative of Overwatch What it represents. We realize that any changes to such a core hero that is beloved in the game will take time to roll out correctly, and we will share updates as this work progresses.
Blizzard had planned to launch a new story next month, with McCree as a key role. And now this new story has been postponed until later this year so that the new name is used. Instead, Overwatch will get a new FFA map next month.
The statement concluded: In the future, the characters in the game will no longer be named after real employees. In the future Overwatch content, we will be more cautious and discerning when introducing real-world content.
