Overwatch’s new hero Brigitte will be released next week, but she’ll remain disabled in the ranked ladder for more than a month.
Brigitte will be available in Quick Play, the Arcade, and Overwatch’s custom games on March 20 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players. She’ll remain offline in Competitive Play until season 10, according to Overwatch principal designer Scott Mercer. An exact start date for season 10 of Competitive Play hasn’t been released.
Related: Brigitte will join Overwatch next week
“Starting with the releases of Blizzard World and Brigitte, we made the decision to debut new maps and heroes in Competitive Play at the beginning of the season that follows their release,” Mercer wrote on the Overwatch forum. “This means that Brigitte will become available in Competitive Play when season 10 begins, just as Blizzard World became available at the beginning of season nine.”
The idea is to give each competitive season “a stronger identity,” Mercer said. Of course, the delayed entry for maps and heroes also gives the player community more time to practice with a new hero or on a new map, meaning there’s more high-quality play—hopefully—in Competitive Play.
Season nine of Overwatch’s Competitive Play ladder kicked off on Feb. 28. There’s still well over a month left for Overwatch’s competitive players, so it’ll be a while until Brigitte becomes viable in the ranked ladder. The start of season nine saw the addition of Blizzard World, the latest Overwatch map, which debuted on the Overwatch PTR on Nov. 20.
Brigitte has been in testing on the Overwatch PTR since Feb. 28. PC players with access to the test servers have been giving Blizzard feedback on the hero since then. There’s no test server for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, so console players have yet to try her out.
