Sorry, Blizzard won’t change Wrecking Ball’s name to Hammond

When Overwatch’s latest hero, Wrecking Ball, was announced, some people were extremely mad online.

It wasn’t because any of the character’s abilities were perceived to be game breaking or anything like that. No. It was because Blizzard didn’t call the mech-driving hamster Hammond.

“We’re all actually really surprised by that as a whole team,” lead designer Geoff Goodman tells me. “Certainly anyone can call him whatever, we’re not against any of that. Tracer’s name is Lena, so people do call characters by their names sometimes.”

Blizzard went for Wrecking Ball over Hammond because it fits the character. He is a ball. He will wreck you. It’s also intrinsically tied into his backstory.

“He landed in Junkertown and set himself up in this arena, and that’s the name he chose for his own character in the arena,” Goodman explains. “People didn’t even know he was a hamster in there.

“As a character, I think he would prefer to be called Wrecking Ball. We really like the name Wrecking Ball so it’s not like it’s going to change any time soon, that’s for sure.”

No name patch for poor old Hammond, then.

Why not cheer yourself up by reading about the big Torbjorn rework that's coming.