The Overwatch team has officially changed the cowboy’s name to Cole Cassidy, they announced on Thursday. Cassidy will enter the game on Oct. 26.
This news came after the announcement that Jesse McCree wouldn’t be the name of the character moving forward because of the Activision Blizzard discrimination issues that came to light earlier this year, as the character was named after a real person affiliated with it.
Meet Cole Cassidy.
Rides into Overwatch October 26. pic.twitter.com/CT6PmaNXNs
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) October 22, 2021
How Overwatch’s Jesse McCree became Cole Cassidy
When the Activision Blizzard abuse news became public, the media noticed that one of the workers let go after the news was Jesse McCree. When Overwatch was in development, they used this worker’s name as a stand-in for the cowboy. As they progressed in development, they agreed that the name fit too well. They got the naming rights from the man himself and voila, Jesse McCree was the cowboy from Overwatch. This went without issue until the abuse news came out. Jesse McCree was part of the ‘Cosby suite’, and allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior during his time with Activision Blizzard.
The company released him, alongside others brought to light in this post. Afterwards, fans mentioned changing the character’s name. Lots of people supported this idea, including Overwatch League casters, simply referring to him as ‘the cowboy.’ Not only that, even the voice actor for the character, Matthew Mercer, commented on the situation and agreed with the name change. Eventually, the Overwatch team confirmed they were renaming him, but needed some time to change the game to match. To fit in the new name, they will have to re-record voice lines and change their established lore. So after two months, the change is official and Cole Cassidy is the new name for the cowboy.
This new name change will go live in the game starting on Oct. 26, and lore will change to fit. Whether his old name is still part of the game’s history is yet to be revealed.
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