A message from the Overwatch Team - McCree Rename Planned, New FFA Map

[Femininity]

I mean.. Good?

Maybe we shouldn't pay homage to/honour a sex offender?

Enabling and condoning an alleged sex offender does not a sex offender make.

Still complicit, sure. But let's not muddy the waters when there are convictions that need to be made.

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Nice, Also there are already unused lines that hint at McCree not even being his real name, so they could easily use those lines and produce a narrative in which his real name is revealed.

Lint Ceastwood.

[milanooos]

xmmm i'm waiting

[Femininity]

"liking the changes being made to the game"
"not falling for Blizzard's obvious deflections"

these are not mutually exclusive things.

I don't think we disagree here. Forgive me if I'm mistaken.

[Loveliest]

When mccree was anounced as fired etc, people were yelling they should rename the OW char.
Now they do, other (?) ppl yell it's stupid.
Guys, doesnt matter what the issue is, some will be for, some against. There is no pleasing everyone.

[McNeil]

What about the Argus zone Mac'Aree? Its very obvious a reference to McCree aswell..

[Newname1234567890]

Hope they go for a "Reaper" option where they call him like "The Gunslinger" over a full canon renaming.

[StillMcfuu]

I ultimately don't really care what they call McCree, I usually make up names for all the characters anyway.

But on a side not it's amazing how quickly they can change things for PR, but don't actually address real issues leading to real problems in their games. If it weren't for D2R and D4 I don't think I'd have anything Blizz related on my comp.

[Ausr]

I ultimately don't really care what they call McCree, I usually make up names for all the characters anyway.

But on a side not it's amazing how quickly they can change things for PR, but don't actually address real issues leading to real problems in their games. If it weren't for D2R and D4 I don't think I'd have anything Blizz related on my comp.

"Blizzard better make changes!"

Blizzard starts to make changes.

"Blizzard is doing it just for PR!"

Make up your minds, seriously.

[froschhure]

it certainly doesn't paint the picture that these lawsuit(s) are going to go away and things will just return to normalcy.

i agree, but it seems to be their way to adress these problems
new players won't even know about the things that happened "back then"

[uuuhname]

"Blizzard better make changes!"

Blizzard starts to make changes.

"Blizzard is doing it just for PR!"

Make up your minds, seriously.

changes to the company... not the games... for god sakes.

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i agree, but it seems to be their way to adress these problems
new players won't even know about the things that happened "back then"

it's been their way of addressing controversies for a while now. which I hate to agree with the knee jerk reactionaries but that's exactly why they made some characters LGBT+, or announce games that are nowhere near being ready for release.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

This will surely address the workplace issues comprehensively

For a game already going through a content drought expected to last until 2023, this is the last place calories need to be burnt on development time. Instead, let's implement actual changes with substance through efforts in company policy and through the people management entities instead of burning dev resources on virtue signaling crap.

Agreed, I just find this announcement to be ridiculous considering that Frances Townsend is still employed as the CCO of Activision Blizzard. How many other people defending the company against claims of misconduct are still employed by the company? I don't know, but I doubt it is anywhere close to zero.

I've only seen PR bullshit after PR bullshit out of Blizzard lately, and this just reeks of more PR bullshit being shoved out to distract from demands to address substantive issues. Renaming McCree in Overwatch before they've fixed their corporate culture is absolutely pathetic.

[Ausr]

changes to the company... not the games... for god sakes.

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it's been their way of addressing controversies for a while now. which I hate to agree with the knee jerk reactionaries but that's exactly why they made some characters LGBT+, or announce games that are nowhere near being ready for release.

Some people are offended by a character still named after a harassing dev. A change is a change, whether in company or in a game. Which they're doing.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

i agree, but it seems to be their way to adress these problems
new players won't even know about the things that happened "back then"

Yup, hence why they're going with renaming McCree. A lot easier to hide it from view if the character no longer serves as a reminder of the shit they're responsible for. I'd bet that the OW team was split on whether or not to change the name, while management from the company pushed hard for changing the name.

Sure this is speculation, but it seems in line with their overall response to minimize and cover up as much shit as possible. It follows their original tone before they took the stock hit over just how insanely tone-deaf their original response was. I don't think their original response has changed in the slightest, I think they've just decided to be much more calculated with their messaging to avoid further PR missteps.

[StillMcfuu]

"Blizzard better make changes!"

Blizzard starts to make changes.

"Blizzard is doing it just for PR!"

Make up your minds, seriously.

Changing McCree's name is a token change. It's like someone rapes you, and the government takes away their license plates. It's not a real change, it won't address anything, everyone will continue to call him McCree, Streisand Effect fully engaged.

Also people aren't a monolith, just because some smooth brain wants McCree's name changed doesn't mean I don't know its a complete waste of time done only to get that previous person to spend more money on Blizz things.

[RoKPaNda]

Are you at least paid for all this breathless shilling ?

It's shilling to not want to immortalize someone who is either a) a predator themselves or b) stood by and let a predator do their thing? If my favorite character was directly named after such a person I'd be fine with it being changed. I'd encourage the company to change it. At this point we know that he was fired. That didn't just happen for no reason. It's not a Blizzard issue, it's a stop defending creeps issue. Plus just a week ago people were calling for Afrasiabi to be removed from WoW, but now McCree is a problem? lol.

I'll call him a predator when you can point to any shred of proof aside from being "nearby" one.
I bet you called the voice actor for Kael'thas a predator too.

You'd lose that bet because I didn't know anything about the Kael'thas thing until people on this forum cried about the changed voice actor.

[hoodedwanderer]

The virtue signaling train is full steam ahead. Blizzard is a laughing stock.

[uuuhname]

Some people are offended by a character still named after a harassing dev. A change is a change, whether in company or in a game. Which they're doing.

sigh I'll take the bold stance of proclaiming that people shouldn't accept a characters name change as evidence of anything besides trying to distance themselves from the person they want to not associate with. granted changing the name of a character that has merch and all that attached to them is much more monumental than swapping out a WoW NPC.

[Nnyco]

Good riddance, last we need is to honor sex offenders.

[Jastall]

Enabling and condoning an alleged sex offender does not a sex offender make.

Still complicit, sure. But let's not muddy the waters when there are convictions that need to be made.

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Lint Ceastwood.

We don't know if the real life McCree did anything wrong... but the people at Blizzard perhaps do. The change could very well be virtue signaling, or actually wanting to distance themselves because he was indeed guilty, if not as bad as Afriasabi. Probably an unhealthy mix of both come to think of it.

[Graeham]

Just you wait, people will get banned if they do that.

Which will further plunge the company into controversy and obscurity.