The allegations that Activision Blizzard fostered a toxic work environment full of sexism, sexual harassment, and more have affected many of its core titles, but perhaps none more so than Overwatch. One of the heroes, McCree, got his name from real-life Blizzard employee, Jesse McCree, who is currently at the centre of one of the biggest controversies within the company.
In response to this, it's been confirmed that McCree will be renamed. Going forward, Blizzard says it will have a more "thoughtful" approach to making real-world references within its games, which will include no longer naming characters after employees.
This development is not surprising given a recent Overwatch League game, in which the casters avoided saying McCree's name altogether. This gave fans the impression that a rename would not be far off.
The statement explains that McCree was actually planned to be a large part of an Overwatch story update in Septmeber. This will now be delayed to accommodate the name change, and will instead come "later this year".
The cowboy's namesake, Jesse McCree, left Activision Blizzard earlier this month. The Diablo 4 lead designer had come under fire after a photograph surfaced of him in the "Cosby suite" - a hotel room at BlizzCon 2013 which was named after Bill Cosby, who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women since 2005.
The Kotaku report into the Cosby suite describes it as a "booze-filled meeting place where many, including [Alex] Afrasiabi, would pose with an actual portrait of Bill Cosby while smiling." The outlet also obtained apparent social media messages sent by higher-ups at the company, in which they discuss "gathering hot chixx [sic]" for the alcohol-filled Cosby suite.
It is not currently known what McCree's new name will be.