As Overwatch players groan over yet another new DPS hero, director says the decision came to "whether we release a great character or one we didn't believe in"

Overwatch's 55th hero is set to be Hudson, a cool robot detective who has a portion of the player base groaning with DPS fatigue. Game director Aaron Keller says he understands the disappointment, but the goal is always to release a "great character" rather than prioritizing role variety above all else.

Hudson was originally teased as an incoming support hero, but the Overwatch team recently revealed that the hero had pivoted into the damage role which already dominates the shooter's hero roster. Right now, the game has a whopping 23 damage heroes - versus 16 supports and 15 tanks. The revelation didn't go down too well with support and tank mains hoping for more variety.

"We've seen a lot of discussion about the role (DPS) of the Season 6 Hero. We understand that you were looking forward to another Support Hero next season and I hope that giving context for the decision will help players understand it, even as some of them are disappointed," Keller says on social media.

"When we started work on the detective, he was a Support. But as time went on and the kit continued development we realized that it wasn’t working. Once we tested Hudson as a DPS, the turn around in our feelings for him was instantaneous and dramatic," he adds. "This decision ultimately wasn't whether we release a DPS or a Support hero, it was whether we release a great character or one we didn't believe in. Building Heroes for OW is as much of an art form as a technical challenge."

The Overwatch lead continued to explain that game development "isn't always straightforward," and in some cases the team needs to "adapt to create the best version of something." Blizzard is supposedly "incredibly proud" of how Hudson plays ahead of his introduction in Overwatch Season 6 this December.

This isn't the first time an Overwatch hero has slotted themselves into an entirely new role. Symmetra was once a support hero, before eventually finding her place as a DPS. Even more recently, hacker Sombra went from a damage hero to a support hero who can 'hotfix' her team. The change might have "upset" some Sombra mains, but the hero does admittedly work much better now.

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