Blizzard has announced that it will change the name of Overwatch's gunslinger character after the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Activision Blizzard in California. McCree was named after Jesse McCree who was a long-time Blizzard employee and is pictured in the "Cosby Suite" reported by Kotaku.
Blizzard has not yet shared a name for the character. The studio will also delay an in-game narrative that he was a part of due to the change. Blizzard also pledged to stop naming in-game characters following real employees.
A message from Overwatch. pic.twitter.com/2W3AV7Pv6X Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) August 26, 2021
Some Overwatch League casters have decided to call the gunslinger character the cowboy, rather than his former name.
This planned change comes after World of Warcraft promised updates to remove inappropriate references from our world. These references may have been references to Alex Afrasiabi, former senior creative director for World of Warcraft. Afrasiabi was named in the lawsuit because of his problems at Blizzard. He was fired by Blizzard, and he appears to have been with the company up until June 2020.
This change comes after Blizzard's recent decision not to make skins for Overwatch League MVPs following sexual assault allegations against Jay Sinatraa Won, an Overwatch pro and MVP.
Blizzard announced that Jesse McCree had left the company. It also confirmed that Jonathan LeCraft and Luis Barriga were no longer employed by the company. In August, Jesse Meschuk, former HR head at Blizzards and J. Allen Brack, former president of the company, also left.
California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), accused Activision Blizzard of withholding and suppressing the evidence necessary for its investigation. Employees protested against the initial public response of Activision Blizzard to the lawsuit in July.
