Christmas is almost upon us, which means gamers around the world are gearing up for some brand new winter-themed events. One of the most popular events this season is the Overwatch Winter Wonderland Event, which returns later this week.
Fans are eager to jump back into the popular Overwatch mode, so we've put together the expected release date, start time, and everything else you need to know about the 2021 Winter Wonderland Event.
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What Is The Overwatch Winter Wonderland Event?
Winter Wonderland is a special Christmas-themed Overwatch event that usually takes place in the final weeks of the year.
The first Winter Wonderland Event began in 2016 and has returned every year since. During the seasonal event, players will find exclusive skins, cosmetics, loot boxes, and more.
Although a large number of players will be solely focused on the exclusive skins available, there will also be a limited-time mode and special Christmas decorations around certain maps.
Each year during the Winter Wonderland Event, players are able to jump back into 'Mei's Snowball Offensive', an exclusive 6v6 brawl mode that is essentially one big snowball fight. The brawl takes place on Ecopoint: Antarctica and also alters Mei's abilities.
As part of the Snowball brawl, Mei's primary fire only has one ammo and must be recharged via the piles of snow around the map. However, it can now instantly kill enemies in one hit. Mei's ultimate ability is also replaced with 'Flurry', which allows her to have infinite ammo for a short period of time.
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Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2021 Start Time and Release Date
The confirmed release date for the 2021 Overwatch Winter Wonderland Event is Thursday, December 16th, 2021. The event will last for 3 weeks before coming to an end on Thursday, January 6th, 2021.
Similar to previous Overwatch events, we expect the start time for Winter Wonderland to be 11AM PT / 2PM ET / 7PM GMT. Should an official start time be announced by Blizzard that differs from the one mentioned, we will update this article.