Overwatch’s controversial McCree name change has fans completely split

Overwatch’s McCree name is history, replaced by Cole Cassidy in the wake of the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, but the decision has split the community right down the middle. 

As a result of the ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for alleged discrimination in the workplace, numerous changes have been implemented throughout some of the company’s biggest titles.

One of these has been the decision to rename the hero formerly known as Jesse McCree to Cole Cassidy, a motion prompted by the character’s real-life namesake’s involvement in a group chat that supposedly contained lewd photographs of an ex-employee. Said employee is alleged as having taken her own life in response to the images being revealed.

Amid the controversy, fans quickly called for McCree’s name to be changed, and that will happen on October 26. However, some players are still divided on whether or not it’s the right decision from Blizzard

Overwatch fans divided over McCree name change

When the news broke that the rebellious cowboy will now be known as Cole Cassidy, the fanbase was immediately split, and even ex Overwatch League pro Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel jumped in to have his say.

On Reddit, a thread entitled “why it matters” shows just how divisive the issue has proven to be. Quoting a series of tweets from DotEsports journalist Liz Richardson, the post has garnered almost 11k upvotes at the time of writing.

• Read More: Overwatch fans flame McCree’s “powerful” Combat Roll buff

While one commenter notes that McCree “really does sound like a perfect cowboy name,” they confess that “Cassidy on the other hand is a fantastic cowboy name, though I may be slightly biased as a Fallout fan.”

Another, while not head over heels for the new name, writes: “I don’t like the new name personally just sounds so off especially for his character. But I kinda get why they changed it I wouldn’t want his disgusting name anywhere near the game either.”

Other commenters, however, remain skeptical. “The name change is only ever going to be at most an internal Blizzard thing,” they state. “The average person probably doesn’t know or care about the names of any Blizzard employees and doesn’t care what they want his name to be now when it’s been something different for five years.”

Some players have suggested that players will simply call the character McCree still, given that’s what they’ve come to know.

Whether you’re saying howdy to Cole Cassidy or hoping that he comes off a little less fortunate at the O.K. Corral, his former self has ridden off into the sunset regardless.