Overwatch gunslinger McCree is being renamed and characters will not be named after employees in the future.
Diablo 4 lead designer Jesse McCree was one of several senior Blizzard staff members who were sacked after a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard highlighted “multiple complaints about illegal harassment, discrimination and retaliation” at the company. In addition, Blizzard announced that it is the namesake of one of the Overwatch characters, which will be renamed after calls from the community, and that players will no longer say his name when commenting on matches.
The statement (looking forward) writes that “in-game characters will no longer be named after actual employees, and we will be more considerate and understanding about adding real-world references to future Overwatch content.”
Overwatch isn't the only Blizzard game to feature a character named after a former employee, and like McCree, it references former senior creative director Alex Afrasiabi, who was part of the infamous "BlizzCon Cosby Crew" group chat posted by Kotaku. Removed from World of Warcraft following player protests. For example, quest holder Field Marshal Afrasiabi has now been replaced by Field Marshal Stonebridge.