Cole Cassidy is McCree’s New Name in Overwatch

Blizzard Entertainment just announced Jesse McCree’s new name: Cole Cassidy. The new name of Overwatch‘s Hero/Outlaw/Bounty hunter is set to debut in the game in the coming days.

The change in the cowboy’s name had already been announced by Blizzard and is part of an action to remove from its IPs all mentions and references related to those implicated in the lawsuit issued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing against the company, which was made after two and a half years of thought investigation and brought to light many cases of gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, among many other forms of abuse and civil rights violations.

The new name was announced on a post by Overwatch’s official Twitter profile, which featured a little more on the in-game reason for the change. According to the post, Cassidy is taking up his real name back, after abandoning it a long time ago when he became a renegade. Also, according to the brief description revealed, by taking up his true name, Cassidy shows that he is ready to face his past and to finally ”take a stand.” The new name will debut in the game on October 26.

Together with the reveal of the name, Blizzard announced through a new post that all players will be offered, from 22 October 2021 to November 5, 2021, a free BattleTag name change. According to the company, it may take up to 4-weeks for a request to be processed.

With that said, the new name surprised many fans of the game, who thought that, based on an interaction between the character and fellow Hero Sombra, his real name was actually going to be Joel. Blizzard previously revealed that the new name will come accompanied by a new narrative arc in which Cassidy will be one of the main focuses. The release date of the said arc was not revealed.

Cole Cassidy, or Cassidy, as he will be addressed in-game, is a character whose focus lies on dealing high damage at a medium distance. He is also great when put against enemy flankers. On the other hand, thanks to his getup, Cassidy makes a lot of o noise just by walking, which, paired with his low mobility speed makes him an easy target against many of the game’s high-range damage dealers, in special those equipped with sniper rifles.

Overwatch is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One. Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.