Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2020 event launch date revealed

Olivia Richman Published 13/12/2020

Spend the holidays with your favorite Overwatch heroes.

Not a lot has been revealed about the Winter Wonderland event by Blizzard so far. The only information Overwatch fans have seen is a teaser trailer released by Overwatch’s European Twitter account. Luckily, one of the things confirmed in the reveal is the event’s release date.

Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland is returning on December 15, 2020.

The festive event will be active until January 5, meaning four weeks of snowball fights and unlocking special skins. There was also a new highlight intro for Mei revealed, which shows Snowball gleefully floating over eggs in a nest.

Freeze!
Overwatch Winter Wonderland is coming December 15! pic.twitter.com/BAeH16PfFp
— Overwatch (@OverwatchEU) December 12, 2020

What is in Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland 2020?

At first glance it seems like fans were only shown a highlight intro, but Ecopoint: Antarctica can be seen in the background of the clip. This most likely means that the limited-time arcade mode “Mei’s Snowball Offensive” will return.

This game mode has everyone playing on two teams made up entirely of Mei, whose weapon has been transformed into a snowball launcher. Players are eliminated when they are hit with a snowball. With a quick enough reaction, Mei can grab incoming snowballs, adding them to her inventory and avoiding elimination.

Mei Snowball Offensive

The highlight may have another surprise in store. Snowball can be seen sporting a penguin-like design. That, along with the eggs, points towards a possible new penguin-themed skin for Mei.

So far Blizzard hasn’t revealed any skins or game modes but since the reveal of Overwatch 2, the developer has notoriously brought back the same skins and games for each event year after year. This means that past Winter Wonderland skins will probably return, although there might also be new skins, emotes, voice lines, and highlight intros.

“Yeti Hunter” will most likely come back for the event as well. This game mode has players choosing to compete as part of a team of Meis or a single, stronger Winston. As Mei, players look to capture Winston for some experiments and studies. Winston players attempt to avoid the team of Mei while also eating steaks they find around the map. When they eat enough steak, they go into a rage and can take down Mei with ease.

As of this writing, nothing has been confirmed by Blizzard even though the event is only a few days away.

What time does the Winter Wonderland event start in Overwatch?

According to the EU tweet, Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland 2020 event will come on December 15. If it’s anything like previous events, players can expect it to go live at 2 PM EST.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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