Overwatch Hero 31 is probably not going to be Echo after all, with a Blizzard developer stating that the character remains in the company’s plans but she won’t be the next hero added to the game. Previously unveiled during Blizzcon 2018, Echo made her first appearance in the animated short ‘Reunion,’ which was used to introduce Overwatch‘s 29th hero, Ashe. Blizzard confirmed that Echo would make her way to the FPS eventually, though Overwatch designer Joshua Noh has now revealed that she isn’t in the developer’s immediate plans.
Noh claimed that Echo wouldn’t be Hero 31 in a discussion with the YouTube channel HighscoreHeroes, in which the developer seemed to suggest that extensive work hadn’t yet begun on the upcoming hero.
“I don’t really have much info about Echo,” Noh said. “We’re definitely going to make her a hero at some point. I don’t think she’s the next hero, if that tells you anything. There’s not too much info there.”
Noh also went on to discuss how Blizzard’s approach to releasing new heroes had changed, with the company having pushed Baptise to the PTR with little fanfare.
“I know we’re intentionally avoiding doing more large ARGs, like [Blizzard did] with Sombra, because that ended up being not that well-received,” Noh said. “But I don’t think there was any intention to undersell him or make it a big surprise out of nowhere, it’s definitely more of a marketing strategy thing that we don’t have much input on. So hopefully it all worked out well.”
That Noh has little information on Echo suggests that the hero is some ways off, despite it being rumored that she’d be introduced to Overwatch as the game’s 31st hero. Blizzard has released new heroes every March, July, and November since the game’s 2016 release year. With Baptiste set to make his way to main servers this month and Hero 31 presumably being released in July, this means that players will have to wait until at least November to play as Echo.
The interview can be watched below:
