Blizzard Entertainment’s next big update for Overwatch is going live today and along with changing certain heroes like Reaper, Roadhog and McCree, it will also add a new map: Horizon Lunar Colony. Originally meant as a research station where Winston resided, it went dark following a coup from the other genetically enhanced gorillas.
With Horizon going live later today, there is speculation that it will be included in Competitive Play. Blizzard’s Bill Warnecke dispelled that notion by stating on the official forums that, “Horizon Lunar Colony will be disabled in Competitive Play for the first week. Cheers!”
This has likely been done to ensure no competitive advantage to those who spend more time on the map. Custom Games, for instance, could let teams scrim continuously and learn the nuances of the map. This way, everyone has enough time to play Horizon before entering into Competitive.
Stay tuned for when the patch officially goes live and let us know what you think of the other changes in the comments below.
Update: Well, everything seems to be moot now as Warnecke has now confirmed that Horizon Lunar Colony will indeed be in the Competitive Play rotation. In his edited forum post, “Apologies everyone but I was mistaken about Horizon Lunar Colony being disabled in Competitive Play during this week. We are considering this for future map releases but server tech for it isn’t available right now. New heroes are disabled for the first week, and that was the source of my confusion.
“So to be clear, Horizon Lunar Colony will be in the Competitive Play map rotation this week.”