Overwatch Could Still Revisit Mama Hong

"One of the five new heroes coming to next week is Jetpack Cat. She's exactly what she sounds like: a furry feline friend who rides a jetpack around the battlefield healing her friends and harassing her foes. She's also the revival of a decade-old concept from the hero shooter's early days of development. If Blizzard is looking back at old ideas and bringing them back in this new era, is there hope for other old concepts like Mama Hong?"

"For those unfamiliar, Mama Hong is another scrapped hero from the early days of development, dating back to when it was going to be an MMO called . Not much is known about her beyond what can be gleaned from an image depicting an older Asian woman with her hair up in curlers, a cigarette in her mouth, dressed simply in a robe like she just got out of bed."

"I think something really cool about working in game dev as a whole, I do think we can do it well, the things that we put away that don't make it to the public, we always draw on these things, even if not exactly the way it once was, we draw on that. Sometimes it does come to light. So it's one of those things where it's like a 'never say never' situation."

Jetpack Cat is one of five new heroes arriving next week and revives a decade-old concept by acting as a jetpack-riding feline who heals allies and harasses enemies on the battlefield. Mama Hong originated as a scrapped hero concept from early development when the project was planned as an MMO. An image portrays her as an older Asian woman with curlers, a cigarette, and a robe, which some compare to the landlady in Kung Fu Hustle and others criticize as stereotypical. Fans have created full kit concepts and repeatedly requested her return. Blizzard narrative staff say past concepts are regularly revisited and that a return is a 'never say never' possibility.

Read at Kotaku