Overwatch Winter Wonderland returns on December 11

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'Tis the season to play some Overwatch.

The Overwatch Winter Wonderland will go live on December 11, Blizzard announced today—but what we've got to look forward to under this year's metaphorical tree remains tightly wrapped in the festive gift paper of mystery.

Okay, that was a bit overdone, but we're trying to get into the spirit of the holidays here—and aside from the tweet, Blizzard hasn't said what's in store for this year's festivities. New skins, cosmetic items, and holiday-themed map updates are surely coming down that chimney, maybe with a little something a little extra for newcomer Ashe and her big buddy Bob—she doesn't look like someone overly prone to yuletide cheer, but I think he'd look lovely done up in lights, tinsels, and a big red hat.

The big question is whether the Winter Wonderland will deliver a new seasonal brawl. Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan said in the September 2018 developer update that Blizzard would continue to create cosmetics for seasonal events, but planned to leave existing seasonal game modes as they are and focus instead on balancing and quality-of-life changes. So Mei's Snowball Offensive and Yeti Hunt will almost certainly be back, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for a new mode to appear under the tree.

Of course, all will become clearer as December 11 approaches, and I imagine we'll see some skin reveals leading up to it. We'll keep you posted. 

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.