In the wake of the controversy surrounding Blizzard's recent sexual harassment lawsuit with the state of California, Overwatch has announced it will be changing the name of the game's premier cowboy, McCree. The developers decided to change the character's name because he is named after longtime Blizzard developer Jesse McCree, who appears in a damning photo that has come to light due to the ongoing lawsuit. Overwatch announced the name change recently with an official statement on its Twitter account, although the statement did not reveal what the new name was or how it would be changed.
However, the announcement did say that the change would require the team to delay a narrative arc with new content that was planned to be released this September, as McCree plays a large story in the narrative. This seems to indicate that the team is planning to integrate McCree's new name with the game's narrative to try and work the character's name change into Overwatch's ever-expanding lore. The team could opt to just change the character's name with no explanation, but there are some options to do it in-universe as well.
Overwatch Could Give Him A New Identity
One of the most obvious ways that Overwatch could change McCree's name is by giving him an entirely new identity. There are various characters in Overwatch that don't go by their real names, like Reaper or Soldier: 76, and the team could do something similar with McCree. Depending on what the new narrative content all entails, the game could have something happen to McCree that causes him to go by an entirely different name. He could follow in other character's footsteps by faking his own death and coming back with a new look and name to go with it. This would also allow the team a good way to introduce some new skins for McCree in Overwatch or to further change his base design as a whole.
McCree's identity change could also come from him leaving Overwatch again or slipping back into his old criminal ways. McCree's narrative arc has been very focused on him trying to gain redemption for his past deeds, but the character could be motivated to leave Overwatch again after just recently rejoining. This could be accompanied by him changing his identity to either hide from the Overwatch team or to start making a new name for himself as a gunslinger to look out for. This could also bring with it some of the changes to McCree's kit that some Overwatch fans have called for and could lead to a very interesting story within the game's lore.
Overwatch Could Use a Codename
Another option would be to either give McCree a new codename or to reveal that McCree had been his codename all along. Both of these reveals may not be as narratively interesting but would offer a pretty convenient way to change the character's name without having to devote too many development resources to the name change. This option seems pretty likely, as changing all references to the character, including any voice lines that say his name, will already surely take up a lot of time. The time requirement is also added to because of McCree's appearance in Overwatch 2 as well. It also would be more narratively easy to explain, as having McCree want to change his name to reflect his benevolent nature would already make sense for the character.
The developers also have a number of other narrative explanations that they could use to give McCree a codename as well. This makes a codename a strong option for the developers to consider, as one of those options could very likely work well with the narrative content that they already had planned to release in September. Being able to justify a codename with the current narrative content that the team has already planned would further help cut down on the tremendous amount of work that changing McCree's name will require. Getting used to a new codename may take some time for players, but Overwatch announcers have already started avoiding saying McCree's name entirely and a codename wouldn't be the hardest change to get used to.
Overwatch Could Replace McCree
The least likely option that Blizzard could decide on would be to replace the character of McCree entirely. This could be done by either killing McCree off and substituting a new character in his place with an identical kit or by just removing him from the game entirely. However, this would create an exorbitant amount of work, and would likely lead to some backlash from the game's community as well. With how many skins, sprays, voice lines, emotes, victory poses, and highlight intros have already been developed for McCree, replacing him with a new character would require the team to throw out a ton of perfectly good work on Overwatch. It seems even more unlikely to happen since fans are simply calling for Overwatch to change McCree's name, and not for him to be entirely removed or replaced.
It also seems very unlikely to happen as there are still many Overwatch fans that love McCree. Players of the game build a lot of endearment for their favorite characters, and McCree has built a sizable base of fans thanks to his playstyle in the game and his interesting narrative within the game's lore. This means that removing him entirely from the game would likely be very disappointing to many fans who still want to continue playing the character, especially if they have already invested hundreds of hours into mastering his weapon and abilities. This means that if Overwatch does take McCree out of the game it would most likely replace the character so that players who have spent so much time with the character don't lose all of that investment. Regardless of how the developers decide to approach McCree's rename, it is very commendable that the team is willing to take the steps to do so. The Blizzard lawsuit is pretty complicated, but the developers listening to their community is a great idea, and it will hopefully pay off in the long run.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.
