Asmongold chimed in on the controversy surrounding the Overwatch character McCree following a petition from the community requesting the character receive a name change.
On August 11, Blizzard lead level designer Jesse McCree was let go from the company. Since then, many Overwatch fans have called for the character McCree, who is named after Jesse, to be renamed.
Twitch star streamer Asmongold has been dishing out his opinions on the recent turmoil Blizzard has found itself in, and on August 12, took to his stream to address the recent controversy surrounding Overwatch’s sharpshooter.
Asmongold on McCree name change
In the clip from August 12, Asmongold talked about how he views a name change for McCree as necessary.
In the clip, Asmongold says, “I hope they don’t change McCree’s name in Overwatch. Like, that in my opinion would just be stupid. I don’t want to see them change McCree’s name. McCree is an existing character with a narrative around it. The Alex Afrasiabi f**king NPC’s have no nuance around them, it’s just like, a character with his name. So, if you do that, I just think that it’s weird. It’s like you’re trying to hide it, you’re retconning things in order to look like this is not what happened.”
McCree is one of Overwatch’s most popular characters, and renaming him would also require changing many of his voice lines.
After finding out that Overwatch casters are already avoiding saying McCree’s name completely, Asmon said, “I just think it’s stupid. That’s the kind of stuff where it’s like, the guys name… yeah it was originally named after this guy that was an asshole, and that’s not really what he is. The character is now evolved from that. That’s the way I see it.
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That’s the kind of stuff, it just feels performative. It doesn’t really do anybody any favors at all in my opinion.”
In giving his final opinion on the matter, Asmon said, “What happens? Do you say his name three times and he comes back, like what is this, f**kin’ Voldemort or Beetlejuice?”
Asmongold has previously called on Blizzard to make big changes, and not what he called “performative action.”