When is Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland event?

With Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event out of the way, Blizzard is preparing the game for its slew of holiday events, the first of which is Winter Wonderland. Should Blizzard follow the traditional schedule, Winter Wonderland should begin in the second week of December and continue into early January.

The Overwatch team hasn’t confirmed its return, but it’s basically a given at this point. As with other annual seasonal events, Winter Wonderland will add new skins and holiday decorations to Overwatch’s maps. Likewise, the event’s playable elements will return. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said in October that the team is holding off on creating new seasonal content, so we shouldn’t expect new gameplay modes with the events. (For instance, Halloween Terror just got a few more playable heroes for the standard Junkenstein’s Revenge brawl.) 

Related: What updates and events are coming next to Overwatch?

So far, Blizzard hasn’t mentioned any new skins for Winter Wonderland—but a potential one was leaked on the Blizzard Gear store a few months back. On a shirt called the “Winter Wonderland OmnicCracker,” there’s a Junkrat variant we haven’t seen before, with the Australian junker as the Nutcracker’s Rat King. Blizzard hasn’t said if the skin will be in the game, however.

Blizzard typically confirms an event’s start a week or so ahead of time. We’re expecting an announcement in early December, then a week’s worth of skin reveals before Winter Wonderland kicks off once again. After Winter Wonderland, Blizzard typically launches its Lunar New Year event in February.