What Fans Think McCree's New Name Will Be

When a lawsuit brought serious allegations against Activision Blizzard over the summer, the company went into damage control mode. This eventually led to Activision Blizzard officially changing the name of "Overwatch" character McCree after fan outcry. While many gamers welcomed the news that McCree, whose name was inspired by a Blizzard employee accused of inappropriate conduct, would receive a new name, the company has yet to announce what that new moniker might be. However, fans have plenty of ideas.

The news that McCree would be renamed was confirmed on the official "Overwatch" Twitter feed, which posted a message regarding Blizzard's intention to immediately stop using the character's current name and rebrand him before the next story arc was released. That announcement followed a petition on Change.org requesting that McCree's name be changed after McCree became publicly linked to the allegations regarding Activision Blizzard's toxic work culture. Kotaku confirmed that McCree was let go from the company as the controversy grew regarding the lawsuit, but fans continued to call for a change to the character bearing his name.

While the developer has not yet made its exact plans known for McCree, some gamers have a guess as to what the new handle for the western-themed "Overwatch" hero might be, thanks to some older concept art of the character.

Gamers have been speculating as to what Blizzard might change McCree's name to ever since the allegations against the former developer came to light. In fact, the Change.org petition included a suggestion that the character's name be changed to "Matthew Mercer," in honor of the voice actor who has played the "Overwatch" gunslinger for years.

While Matthew Mercer would be an interesting choice, Twitter user @OverwatchNaeri thinks that the new name could also be tied to a piece of concept art that listed the character's name as McCloud. The art in question shows an avatar with similar facial hair to McCree's current design, only wearing clothing with a Scottish tartan pattern and carrying a sword. @OverwatchNaeri even went so far as to guess a possible first name, Joel. Although that first name is not listed on the concept art, it has been referenced in the game before, as Twitter user @mintyfreshlife pointed out.

While switching McCree's name to McCloud might provide an easy (and possibly canonical) transition for the character, there is still the chance that Blizzard will decide to come up with something totally new to distance itself from the former developer. It probably won't be too long before that change is revealed. As the message posted on the official "Overwatch" Twitter noted, the character is intended to be a significant player in the game's next narrative update, which will now kick off at some point "later this year."