Posted in: Blizzard, Games, Overwatch, Video Games | Tagged: blizzard, McCree, overwatch

Overwatch's Latest Patch Replaces A McCree Noose Spray

The latest patch to Overwatch has made a very particular change that a lot of people caught onto as one of McCree's sprays has been replaced. It isn't uncommon for Blizzard to replace the artwork of sprays, either because they want to adjust something or change the color or the way it's presented when it hits a surface. But the latest change is a complete swap-out of a previous spray. While the latest patch notes for the 2.93 update make no mention of it, fans took notice when one of their McCree sprays for the character had gone missing.

The spray in question, as you can see here, is a Hangman's Noose. Which has been with the character's collection as part of his cowboy motif, as criminals were often executed on the spot by a hangman back in the old west. They have instead replaced the spray with one of a horseshoe with the words "Bad Luck" printed on it. This comes from an old wives' tale that if you hang a horseshoe upside-down, all the luck will run out of the ends.

As of the time we're writing this story, neither Blizzard nor anyone from the Overwatch team has commented on why they chose to remove the noose. But it's pretty obvious from looking at the past two months of social media in general that it was likely removed due to the history of racism and lynching that is tied to the symbol. Of course, Overwatch fans are unhappy about the change as it seemed from their forums there were no active complaints from the community about it. But now that it's done, there are some who have taken the discussion up a level and are demanding that if the company is going to make changes, they should remove the police skins from D.Va and Brigitte, which is an interesting discussion since the D.Va police skin is one of the most popular in the game. That discussion has also spared a few more about other skins and objects and sprays in the game that should be considered for removal. It'll be interesting to see what the eventual response from the company is, if any is made.

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