After a discrimination lawsuit exposed Activision Blizzard's "frat boy" work culture, a letter was written by employees demanding accountability and change. This was followed by a mass walkout protest by employees and supporters of their cause. Now fans of Overwatch, one of the company's hit games, are calling for a name change for one of its characters as more stories come out regarding the company’s developers.
The Overwatch character is question is Jesse McCree, whose namesake was a lead developer for World of Warcraft who is currently working as the lead game designer for the upcoming Diablo 4. Photos and screenshots show McCree was one of the Activision Blizzard employees involved with what they called the “Cosby Suite,” former senior creative director Alex Afrasiabi’s alcohol-filled hotel room at 2013’s BlizzCon. According to the lawsuit, the nickname was apparently given to the room because of Afrasiabi’s notorious harassment towards women, which included repeatedly hitting on them, saying he wanted to marry them, and trying to kiss them. This harassment was so bad that others would sometimes have to physically pull him away from female employees.
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Afrasiabi, one of only two people explicitly named in the lawsuit, supposedly left Activision Blizzard in 2020 with little recognition from the company online, and later erased his social media presence. It has been recently reported that Afrasiabi was actually fired for “misconduct in his treatment of other employees.” McCree can be seen in screenshots of a group text message which allegedly took place around BlizzCon 2013 encouraging Afrasiabi’s behavior, and in a now-infamous photo, Afrasiabi and McCree can be seen with several other men, including someone alleged to be an Activision Blizzard HR representative, posing in the suite underneath a framed picture of accused rapist Bill Cosby.
In response to this news, Overwatch players are calling for Activision Blizzard to change the name of the character McCree. Some want his name to be changed to Matt Mercer, after the cowboy hero’s voice actor, while some want the character to be removed from the game altogether.
Activision Blizzard employees have tried to distance themselves from Afrasiabi in light of accusations made against him, but news like this indicating how many people were aware of and participated in his antics makes it much harder to do so. Whether the company will decide to change the hero’s name is uncertain, but given how often its games reference real people – including Afrasiabi himself – more instances like this one are almost bound to happen.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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Source: Dexerto
