Blizzard to change McCree’s name from Overwatch following sexual harassment lawsuit

Blizzard says it plans to change the name of Overwatch’s gunman character following the explosive sexual harassment lawsuit brought against Activision Blizzard by the state of California. The character was originally named “McCree” in honor of Jesse McCree, a former Blizzard staff member who appears to appear in the so-called “Cosby Suite” reported by Kotaku.

Blizzard has yet to share a new name for the character, and the studio will delay a story arc in the game in which he played a “key role” due to the change. The company also vowed to stop naming the game’s characters as actual employees.

Recently some Supervision League commentators had chosen not to say the gunman’s character’s previous name, but to call him “the cowboy.”

The planned change follows the updates promised to World of warcraft to remove “references that are not appropriate for our world”, which may have referenced previous references World of warcraft Senior Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi on the set. Afrasiabi was singled out in the lawsuit for his troublesome actions while at Blizzard. He was fired from Blizzard and appears to have worked for the company until June 2020.

The change also follows a recent decision by Blizzard not to create skins for Supervision League MVP after sexual assault allegations surfaced against former Supervision pro y MVP Jay “Sinatraa” Won.

When Blizzard confirmed that Jesse McCree was no longer with the company this month, it said longtime employees Luis Barriga and Jonathan LeCraft had also left. Former Blizzard HR chief Jesse Meschuk and former president J. Allen Brack also left in early August.

This week, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) charged Activision Blizzard with “withholding and suppressing evidence” necessary for its investigation in an amended complaint. The employees withdrew in protest at the company’s initial public response to the lawsuit in July.

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