Overwatch’s gunslinger McCree is being renamed, according to a statement earlier today from Blizzard’s Overwatch team.
The announcement arrives during the ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging sexual harassment and discrimination, specifically against women of color. This lawsuit has seen the departure of many high profile Blizzard employees depart the company. Notably, former Blizzard President J. Allen Brack “stepped down.”
Furthermore, relevant to today’s news, Jesse McCree, the namesake of Overwatch’s McCree, stepped down. Jesse McCree was pictured in the infamous Cosby suite at the heart of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. Today, the Overwatch team released a statement announcing they would change the name of the character,
“As we continue to discuss how we best live up to our values and to demonstrate our commitment to creating a game world that reflects them, we believe it’s necessary to change the name of the hero currently known as McCree to something that better represents what Overwatch stands for."
Additionally, the team had planned to start a story arc in September in which McCree played a significant role. However, this has been delayed as they work to implement a change. Blizzard notes,
“Going forward, in-game characters will no longer be named after real employees and we will be more thoughtful and discerning about adding real world references in future Overwatch content.”
Recently, California expanded their lawsuit to include temporary workers, and alleged Activision Blizzard was tampering with the investigation by allegedly shredding documents.
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