Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023: Release date, Christmas skins, game modes & more

Stephanie Zucarelli
Overwatch 2 Season 8 Winter Wonderland 2023

Overwatch 2 Season 8 will celebrate this holiday season with the return of the Winter Wonderland event. Here’s everything we know so far about the Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023 event.

Overwatch 2 Season 8 confirmed the return of Winter Wonderland, a seasonal event that promises to introduce new skins, challenges, and classic holiday-themed game modes.

Winter Wonderland 2022 was a massive disappointment for players, who said that the event was lackluster and that all game modes were “recycled.” Even if this year’s Christmas event has yet to confirm new content, the Call of the Hunt trailer promised a new event pass to earn free legendary skins.

Here’s everything we know so far about Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023.

Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023 release date

Blizzard have announced that this year’s Winter Wonderland event will start on December 19, 2023. Along with new holiday-themed skins, players will be able to complete new challenges in returning event modes and other games that are still unannounced.

We’ll keep you updated as soon as Blizzard release more news on the Winter Wonderland 2023 event in Overwatch 2 Season 8.

Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023 new skins

Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023 will feature new seasonal skins, and players will be able to choose from Formalwear skins for Cassidy or Baptist to the new Winter Jammies Illari skin.

Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023 skins
Overwatch 2 Season 8 introduced new Christmas-themed skins for Baptiste, Illari, and Cassidy.

Blizzard also announced that players will be able to unlock one free legendary skin of their choice after completing seasonal events. Devs also confirmed that all new skins will be available to purchase separately for Overwatch Coins in the Hero Gallery.

Overwatch 2 Winter Wonderland 2023 game modes explained

Blizzard confirmed the return of two fan-favorite event modes during Overwatch 2 Season 8 Winter Wonderland 2023. Here’s everything you need to know about them:

Mei’s Snowball Offensive:

Mei’s Snowball Offensive is a returning Overwatch 2 game mode that faces two teams of six players in an Elimination-style map. Each player will be using Mei, who can only use her Endothermic Blaster that will shoot a snowball that can kill an enemy in one shot. Her Ultimate is replaced by Flurry, which gives her unlimited ammo for 6 seconds.

After eliminating the enemy team, the winner of that round will get one point; the first team to get 3 points will win the match. Mei’s Snowball Offensive is played in the Ecopoint: Antarctica and Black Forest maps.

Overwatch 2 Mei Snowball Offensive game mode
Winter Wonderland 2023 brings back the classic winter game mode of Overwatch 2.

Yeti Hunt

Winter Wonderland 2023 reintroduces Yeti Hunt, a game mode that presents a 5v1 fight that takes place in Nepal. Most players will be playing as Mei (in her Yeti Hunter skin), and only one will be playing as Winston (in his Yeti skin). The Yeti must collect pieces of meat while they spawn on open fireplaces to activate their Ultimate ability, but can also attack the other players.

While the Yeti must eliminate all players on the map to win, the Hunters have to completely deplete the Yeti’s health.

Overwatch 2 Yeti Hunt game mode
Winston has to eliminate all their opponents before the time finishes in Yeti Hunt game mode.

While the Overwatch 2 Season 8 teaser hasn’t confirmed any other game modes yet, we’ll keep you updated for any other Winter Wonderland 2023 modes.

And that’s everything you need to know about Overwatch 2 Season 8 Winter Wonderland 2023. If you want to know more about Blizzard’s FPS, you can check our guides below:

Best Overwatch 2 PC settings | Overwatch 2 crossplay | Is Overwatch 2 free-to-play? | How to get Golden Guns in Overwatch 2 | Who is the most popular Overwatch 2 Heroe | How to check your rank in Overwatch 2 | Is Overwatch 2 split-screen? | How to spectate matches in Overwatch 2

About The Author

Stephanie is a Games Writer at CharlieIntel. After graduating as a journalist, she started working as a tech writer for Infobae, Channel 9, and Rolling Stone. She's currently focused on covering Diablo 4, Baldur's Gate 3 and Fortnite, but can't resist anything related to The Sims 4 and Stardew Valley. You can contact her at [email protected].