A few months ago, Activision Blizzard became involved in a scandal involving multiple employees at the company. Unfortunately for fans of the Overwatch cowboy, the character had been named after one of the people embroiled in the controversy. Jesse McCree, the former lead designer on Diablo 4, was accused of inappropriate workplace behavior. This led to the employee’s termination and the company’s announcement that a name change for the Overwatch hero was going to take place. However, some are wondering why it hasn’t happened yet.
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In a recent post on Reddit, a community manager at Activision Blizzard finally gave fans an update on the process. Changing the Overwatch hero’s name isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. According to the community manager, the name change carries many implications and forces the developers to alter numerous other aspects of the character. These include “voice lines, localization, UI/UX elements, art assets, checking with the regions for cultural considerations, and publishing aspects.” After listing the many steps involved in the complicated process, they noted that work on the changes had begun. However, it could take a considerable amount of time to complete as the company doesn’t have an ETA for the name change.
Beyond the implications connected to changing McCree’s name in Overwatch, this change could possibly impact the development of Overwatch 2. The game was in production before the Activision Blizzard controversy spurred alterations to the cowboy. As a playable character in the sequel as well, it seems possible that the same work would need to be done to align the hero with the changes being made in the first game.
The DPS hero McCree was an integral part of the original cast of heroes in Overwatch, and he has continued to be one of the most recognizable characters in the game. Understandably, the company seems to be taking a careful approach to making such an important change to his character. It will be interesting to see what name the developers eventually reveal for the hero.
Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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Source: Dexerto
