Blizzard says Echo is the last new hero in Overwatch for 2020

Olivia Richman Published 23/03/2020

Echo is the final Overwatch hero. At least, in the year 2020.

Overwatch’s lead designer Jeff Kaplan has revealed to multiple sources that the much-awaited omnic is the last hero players will receive this year.

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing more heroes this year for Overwatch. We’re heavily focused on Overwatch 2 at this point. We know how much people love new heroes. We’re making a bunch of new heroes for Overwatch 2,” Kaplan said. “There is hero development happening. But I don’t want to get people’s expectations in the wrong place. We will not be getting another hero this year.”

This news has been met with a lot of backlash from the Overwatch community, who are concerned with the game’s lack of support.

“We aren’t gonna have another support hero until Overwatch 2 and we don’t even know how long that’s going to be,” one fan said on Blizzard’s Overwatch forums.

The game has been getting a lot of hate lately for the lack of viable support heroes in the current meta. Many feel that Baptiste is undoubtedly the strongest support, thanks to his ability to make his team invincible and easily heal up the team quickly while also dealing significant damage. This led to a discussion on power creep in the game, which developers have denied is a problem.

While Echo’s ultimate can potentially allow her to heal if she copies an enemy support’s ultimate, she is undeniably a DPS hero. Because of her ability to snipe from afar and up in the air, she’s been seen as a potential flanker, able to get behind the enemy team and fire away from a safe distance.

“We do have a lot of DPS heroes,” Kaplan said in an interview with YouTuber Stylosa. “Originally, if you remember, the game was tank, support, offense, and defense. When that ratio existed, it made a lot more sense. When we collapsed everything, I think that threw the ratio off just a bit.”

Echo, he continued, has been in development for a very long time. Fans originally thought she would be revealed for Overwatch 2 as well, but now she’s already on the PTR, is already being called OP, and is most likely coming to public servers very soon.

When it comes to Overwatch 2, Kaplan stated that there are “many tanks and supports in development. They are coming for sure.”

Kaplan told IGN at one point that there were six new heroes devlopment. It’s rumored that Overwatch 2 will launch with six or more new heroes along with the old roster, creating a lot of new metas, strategies, and team compositions for casual and pro players alike to explore.

Kaplan said development of Overwatch 2 is “going great,” but developers at Blizzard are planning to keep quiet about the game until it’s closer to launch. He made it clear that the team was quite focused on the game, meaning the original Overwatch will probably no longer be a development priority. Fans can thus expect fewer updates and new events.

For now, fans can check out Overwatch League teams testing out the new hero here:

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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