Overwatch devs have quietly started making McCree updates ahead of name change

McCree’s name change in Overwatch could be imminent, with Blizzard developers already quietly removing several mentions of the iconic gunslinger’s original game name in the latest title’s update.

Amidst a stream of allegations against Blizzard developers in July, the Overwatch community took notice of one employee’s name in particular: Jesse McCree. The former World of Warcraft Level Designer was involved in the infamous ‘Cosby Suite’ report from Kotaku, in quite a major way.

As a result, players demanded the Overwatch character of the same name be updated in light of the negative connotations. Blizzard responded to demands in an Aug. 27 statement, agreeing a name change was “necessary.”

This is no small matter, as it turns out, with weeks of effort going into many “extensive” Overwatch changes; everything from menus to years of voice lines has to be reworked.

Now, it appears the first batch of McCree updates have just been quietly implemented.

Following this year’s Halloween Terror update, aptly named Reddit user ‘DoctorDeadeye’ decided to sift through the game’s files. Comparing the current build to the previous instance revealed some drastic changes.

Specifically, numerous voice lines that were present in patch 1.64, now no longer appear in patch 1.65, the current version of Overwatch. The player revealed: “Almost all of the voice lines and interactions that mention Jesse McCree by name have been removed from the current build.”

Certain interactions with other heroes remain in effect. For instance, Duplicating into McCree as Echo will still play the relevant voice line so both friends and foes know there’s an extra gunslinger on the map.

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Though voice lines where McCree is explicitly mentioned by name, appear to have all been scrapped. From amusing lines with other characters to interactions in the pre-match setup, McCree’s name should be heard far less often now.

It’s not completely gone just yet but these changes certainly imply the process is now underway. Perhaps the full name change could be imminent.

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Blizzard did not reveal these changes in the October 12 patch notes, however, and may still be trying to keep it under the radar for a while yet.