Overwatch Just Changed McCree And You Didn't Even Notice

The developers of "Overwatch" decided to change McCree's name after Blizzard began facing serious allegations in multiple lawsuits. Some players felt that the name "McCree" just didn't fit anymore, considering that he's named after a former Blizzard executive who left the company after its harassment lawsuits began piling up. For the most part, the gaming community seemed to feel positive about the impending change. Matthew Mercer, the character's voice actor, broke his silence on the matter to say that he also thought it was "cool." While fans have some guesses as to what the character's new name will be, no one knows for sure yet what it is, and it's unclear when Blizzard will make the change official. It turns out that developers might already be making some alterations, though, even if nothing has been officially announced anything yet.

A new update to "Overwatch" didn't explicitly mention that any changes had been made to McCree, but one Redditor has determined that a few things seemed off. The October patch notes for the game discussed a seasonal Halloween event, as well as some minor bug updates and improvements, but there was no mention of McCree's upcoming name change, nor how the developers planned to roll that. Delving into the game files, however, Redditor DoctorDeadeye found out exactly what changes the patch notes didn't mention.

DoctorDeadeye's Reddit post explained that "almost all of the voice lines and interactions that mention Jesse McCree by name have been removed from the current build of 'Overwatch.'" DoctorDeadeye said that the only two remaining voice lines with McCree's original name are the first words he says upon spawning on the map and Echo's line when she duplicates him, both of which provide important information for players. Then, there's one last line that devs left in. Torbjorn's question about what happened to McCree's arm still exists in the game files, leaving DoctorDeadeye to wonder if an upcoming story arc featuring McCree might finally answer that mystery.

Fans debated in the comments of DoctorDeadeye's post, with some saying that they still don't think McCree's name should go. Other players explained that they'd already begun changing how they think of the gunslinger, simply calling him "the cowboy" as the world waits for his new name — which looks like it could arrive any day now. If the internet seems silent about McCree's name removal in the most recent "Overwatch" patch, it's because most haven't noticed it just yet. Considering that the change wasn't documented in the patch notes, the only way for fans to hear the news is through gameplay experience, time, and more posts on the internet.