Actually, do we already know what McCree's (OW character) new name is? Since Blizzard announced that this name and all references to it are getting evaporated?
Didn't they say, that they'd stop using developer names in their games? ...so then we do actually know why the "Jeph's Pizza"-thing got changed. No reason to stir up all sorts of things - because it's Jeff Kaplan - just because they're doing what they said they'd do.
Removed
If they remove Metzen references too I will be genuinely sad, angry and disappointed.
exactly this all needs to just stop. What they did to develop and shape the game into what it is will always be there. If they did wrong they will see there day in court. It should end there or this is going to spread like a wildfire
Question: Why are they bothering? "Oh, it references a former Blizzard employee!" It also references a three different guys at my job. Jeff isn't a terribly uncommon name.
Removal of references pre-release to comply with new directives is very different to retconning established software.
They removed it because they don't want to have dev references in their games anymore. I don't think that this guy behaved unprofessionally it's just their new policy when it comes to dev references.
I don't agree with this tbh, if Jeff did nothing wrong then where's the harm of leaving some references in the game?
I mean it could also be a case of Blizzard realizing naming things after employees, might not be a good idea, so decided to jsut not do it anymore
Given the circumstances of the recent lawsuit I can see where this overcorrection is coming from but honestly... if you believe you are hiring good people I wouldn't worry about the Dev teams putting references or nods to coworkers in the games they created. If something were to come out and the reference is suddenly turned into not a happy thing for the team then remove it. This mentality that Devs can't color the games they create, is stupid. That team is responsible for that game. It should be able to celebrate it's members in this small and normally insignificant way. Most people probably don't even get that either of these are a reference to a Dev. It's absolutely just some fun easter egg for the Devs and fans in the know to enjoy finding. I miss when games and game makers could just do things for the sake of fun...
Some of these removals feel a bit silly. As in an overreaction. 'Jeff' could have been anyone. If it said 'Kaplan' I'd see somewhat of a point to it. They seem a bit lost over there, be it game design or company culture.