Overwatch's Winter Wonderland Event might struggle to live up to the hype that always arrives with the Halloween Terror Event, but it's far from a bad seasonal event for a game that's on its last legs - this year's iteration of Winter Wonderland is set to start soon and we have the latest from the Overwatch Team below.
Winter Wonderland Event - It's starting today!
Overwatch's Winter Wonderland Event is due to start on December 16th - we're expecting the update to arrive around the following time (give or take an hour):
- 09:00 PST
- 12:00 EST
- 17:00 GMT
At the moment, we only know about a handful of skins - one of the best ones we've seen in a long time can be checked out below:
We don't have confirmation yet, and we won't until the Winter Wonderland Event starts, but we're expecting Freezethaw Elimination, Yeti Hunter, Mei's Snowball Offensive, and Snowball Deathmatch to all be available during the event.
Start Date confirmed via Social Media
Overwatch has confirmed that the Winter Wonderland Event for 2021 is going to start on December 16th. From the teaser we can see below, it looks like D.Va is finally getting her seasonal skin! It's been a long time coming and we just hope it's going to be worth the wait - thankfully, if there's one thing Overwatch does well it's seasonal cosmetics. Even this late into the game's lifetime, with stale content updates, the new cosmetics are top quality.
The event is going to run until January 6th and we should find out more over the next two days - Overwatch's website isn't going to give any secrets away just yet!
When does the Winter Wonderland Event start?
Overwatch's Winter Wonderland Event for 2021 was expected to start on December 14th - looking at the start dates for the previous iterations of the event - but it looks like it's going to be a little late.
Overwatch's Community Manager has stated that it's going to be delayed by "just a few days" due to "unforeseen circumstances". There's no word on whether this is to do with the current slate of walkouts and strikes from Activision Blizzard employees or not. You can check out the information we've been given below:
Overwatch's Winter Wonderland event begins on December 16th.
What should you expect from the next event?
Overwatch's Winter Wonderland Event is expected to bring back several limited-time winter-themed modes - we don't know if anything new is going to show up, but here's what we should see a return from previous years' events:
- Freezethaw Elimination
- 4v4 Brawl where people freeze instead of dying - meaning they can be thawed back into the fight;
- Mei's Snowball Offensive
- 6v6 Brawl where everyone is Mei with a modified endothermic blaster that shoots snowballs;
- Snowball Deathmatch
- 8-player Brawl that introduces free-for-all rules to Mei's Snowball Offensive;
- Yeti Hunter
- This is a 5v1 Brawl where 5 Mei players take on a super-powered Winston Yeti;
In addition to this, players will be pleased to know that all the old Winter Wonderland Event-limited skins and cosmetics will be available to purchase at a lower price point for the duration of the event.
Similarly, there's going to be several new cosmetics items available - however, Overwatch hasn't shared what these will be yet. There's also going to be a series of Weekly Challenges that should offer three Epic Skins, three related sprays, and three related Player Icons.
Winter Wonderland Loot Boxes are going to be back and this is the perfect time to jump into Overwatch if you're looking for some festive content and a snow-full experience.