If you haven't logged into Blizzard's hero shooter in a few years, you’re in for a shock when you look at the Damage roster. That iconic, cigar-chomping cowboy with the "BAMF" belt buckle? He isn’t Jesse McCree anymore. He hasn't been for a while. Now, he's Cole Cassidy.
It wasn't just a random creative choice by a bored writer. Honestly, the Overwatch McCree name change was one of the most explosive and messy PR moments in modern gaming history. It involved a massive lawsuit, a hotel room nicknamed the "Cosby Suite," and a developer who shared a name with a digital gunslinger.
Why the Change Happened (The Ugly Reality)
The pivot away from the name Jesse McCree wasn't sparked by a lore expansion. It was sparked by a legal firestorm. In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a massive lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The allegations were grim: a "frat boy" workplace culture, rampant sexual harassment, and systemic discrimination.
As the internet started digging, a name kept popping up: Jesse McCree.
No, not the cowboy. The real-life Jesse McCree, who was a lead level designer at Blizzard. He was pictured in 2013 photos of the infamous "Cosby Suite," a hotel room at BlizzCon where developers allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior. While the real-life McCree wasn't the main focus of the lawsuit, his association with the group—and the fact that he was eventually let go from the company—made his name toxic for the Overwatch team.
Imagine being a developer who had been harassed, then coming into work every day only to see your abuser’s name on your screen as a "hero." That's the perspective the team eventually took. They realized they couldn't keep "Jesse McCree" as the face of their brand while trying to clean up their image.
The Lore Fix: Who is Cole Cassidy?
Blizzard didn't just swap the text in the menu. They tried to bake it into the story. On October 26, 2021, the change became official. According to the new lore, "Jesse McCree" was a pseudonym the cowboy used to hide from his past as a member of the Deadlock Gang.
To "make things right," he decided to go back to his birth name: Cole Cassidy.
The transition was massive. We're talking about:
- Redrawing assets in the New Blood comic series.
- Scrapping old voice lines where characters like Ana or Ashe shouted "McCree!"
- Hiring Matthew Mercer (the voice actor) to record hundreds of new lines.
- Manually updating every single skin and spray in the game.
The Community Blowback
People hated it at first. Some still do.
If you go on Reddit or the Blizzard forums, you’ll find two very loud sides. One side argued that the name Jesse McCree belonged to the character now, not the developer. They saw it as "performative activism"—a way for Blizzard to look like they were fixing things without actually solving the deeper corporate issues.
"It’s just a name," was the common refrain.
The other side pointed out that it’s literally impossible to separate the two. The character was named specifically to honor the developer. Keeping it felt like a permanent monument to a period of the company’s history they wanted to bury.
Interestingly, the Overwatch League casters actually started the trend before the official name change. They stopped saying his name during broadcasts, calling him "The Cowboy" or "the outlaw" during matches to avoid using the tainted moniker.
What Most People Get Wrong
A big misconception is that the name change was "easy." It wasn't.
It cost Blizzard a lot of money and time. They had to delay an entire narrative event planned for September 2021 because it was too focused on the McCree identity. Instead, they pushed out a Free-For-All map (Malevento) just to give players something while they scrambled to scrub the cowboy's old name from the game files.
Another myth is that "Cole Cassidy" was just picked out of a hat. There’s actually a heavy "Butch Cassidy" vibe there, and the name "Cole" has phonetic ties to "Coal," which plays into the "Coal and Ashe" dynamic he has with the leader of the Deadlock Gang. It fits the Western trope perfectly, even if it took fans a year to stop accidentally calling him McCree in voice chat.
Actionable Takeaways for Players
If you’re just getting back into the game or you're a lore nerd trying to keep up, here is what you need to know about the current state of the character:
- Muscle Memory: If you still call him McCree in a match, most people will know who you mean, but "Cass" is the standard shorthand now.
- The Dialogue: Listen for the interactions. Characters like Sombra used to have voice lines hinting that "McCree" wasn't his real name. These have been updated to reflect the Cole Cassidy reveal.
- Naming Policies: Blizzard has officially stated they will never name a character after a real employee again. This is to prevent this exact situation from happening in the future.
- Legacy Content: Some old cinematics and YouTube videos still use the old name because you can't exactly "patch" a video that's been live for seven years.
The Overwatch McCree name change was a mess, but it was a necessary one for a company trying to prove it had changed. Whether you like the name "Cole" or not, the cowboy is here to stay, and the old name is officially a relic of the past.
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Next time you’re on Route 66, check the posters—you might still find a few "Wanted" signs that missed the memo, but for the rest of the world, Jesse McCree is gone.