In a forum post on the Overwatch site, the game’s principal designer Scott Mercer confirmed the hold-off for the new hero. He explained that because Blizzard and the title’s creative team want to allow players the time to explore Orisa and everything her abilities can do, so she will not be placed into the Competitive Play roster upon her official release.
“When patch 1.9 releases,” Mercer stated. “Orisa will not initially be available for Competitive Play. We want to give players some time to learn about and play Orisa before she’s placed into the crucible of Competitive Play.”
Mercer’s post confirms that Orisa is “banned for [a] week of Competitive Play.” This means she will enter competitive mode exactly one week from today on March 28th. However, Orisa will be playable in a few other modes now that the update has rolled out. “She’ll still be immediately available in Quick Play, the Arcade (including custom games with the competitive ruleset), and Play vs. AI,” Mercer clarified.
Orisa goes live across all platforms today, March 21.