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News video games 28 August 2021, 20:54

author: Iltutmis

Names of Selected Blizzard Devs Will be Removed From World of Warcraft

Yesterday, the team responsible for Overwatch announced that McCree, a character named after one of the developers, will be renamed. Today, another team from under Blizzard's wings continues the changes. Some familiar names will disappear from World of Warcraft.

IN A NUTSHELL:
  • Update 9.1.5 for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will be available for testing starting next week;
  • According to a Blizzard spokesperson, references to controversial developers such as Jesse McCree, Luis Barriga and Jon LeCraft will be removed from the game.

Barely had the developers of Overwatch announced that Jesse McCree's name is to be replaced, and the team responsible for developing the well-known MMORPG World of Warcraft has released promises to improve and "better reflect commmon values." The announcement is short and vague, unlike the one related to Overwatch.

The information regarding WoW's future mainly focuses on gameplay update for WoW Shadowlands and WoW Classic. Update 9.1.5 will be coming to the test servers next week, and most of the changes will be based on collective player feedback, including a solo mode for island expeditions.

It is not quite clear how to understand the mentioned content changes. A Blizzard spokesperson in an email to PC Gamer tried to clarify the matter. According to the content of the message, references to controversial developers - Jesse McCree, Luis Barriga and Jon LeCraft - will be removed from World of Warcraft. McCree was the lead level designer in the famed MMORPG; several NPCs and one of the game's cities are named after him. Barriga, on the other hand, provided his name to the NPC Senior Scrivener Barriga. Jon LeCraft appears in the game in names of such characters as Crafticus MindBender and Torturer LeCraft.

The backdrop for these changes is the raging scandal of employee mistreatment by some of the developers. McCree, Barriga, LeCraft and former Blizzard CEO J. Allen Brack have all left the company as a result of the allegations against them.