Fans of Overwatch have known for months that Blizzard was changing McCree's name, though just when it would happen has been in the air. As of the latest Overwatch patch, though, McCree has officially been renamed to Cole Cassidy.
The sexual misconduct allegations raised against Blizzard this past summer saw many changes throughout the company and in many of its games. In the case of Overwatch, McCree, a gunslinging cowboy-like character who has been in the game since the start, was named after one of the perpetrators of the misconduct, Jesse McCree, to which fans quickly demanded Blizzard change McCree's name. Shortly after, Blizzard agreed to change the character's name, but as weeks passed, fans grew restless wondering why it was taking so long for the change to occur. A Blizzard representative explained on Reddit the magnitude such a change demands design-wise, and only recently revealed the new name to be Cole Cassidy.
In the latest retail patch for Overwatch, Blizzard has finally changed McCree's name. The patch notes start with the heading "HERO UPDATES," with the only adjustment being "Cassidy: Introduction of new hero name." Blizzard's format here is noteworthy, referring to Cassidy from the start, instead of listing McCree once more, with the new name being shown in the bullet. Other fixes in this patch address more general bugs like not receiving full credit in Junkenstein's Revenge matches, and character-specific problems.
As alluded to before, changing a character's name in a game as big as Overwatch is not as easy as just changing the name on the character select screen. Beyond just the UI elements where the name may appear, other aspects like voice lines, art assets, localization, and other considerations must all be made, making it an intensive project.
Part of this time was ensuring a logical story reason for McCree's name to change, Blizzard deciding that "Jesse McCree" was an alias, and that Cole Cassidy is his actual name. In a circumstance like this, where there are real-world connections to the name, lore connections should not be the largest of concerns, though it is neat Blizzard was able to tie it all together.
With the patch being available on all platforms, Blizzard has made another step in moving on from its recent controversies, though it still has a way's to go before making full amends. With Activision Blizzard's request to pause its lawsuit denied, the company is clearly still struggling despite still consistently updating its titles. At least a major part of the allegation is now permanently removed from Overwatch.
Overwatch is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Blizzard