Award-winning team-based shooter Overwatch appears to have something under wraps to commemorate Christmas, as Blizzard has recently uploaded a GIF depicting a snow-capped King's Row captioned with "You're invited!" and a Dec. 13 date.
Christmas In Overwatch
If the GIF uploaded by the game's developers on Twitter is anything to go by, players might soon be treated to modified versions of current Overwatch maps to reflect the holiday, King's Row being an initial example.
You're invited! pic.twitter.com/MQZPZOW4Y1
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) December 6, 2016
Possible Christmas Loot Boxes And Items
Apart from Christmas-themed maps, it's also highly possible that the event will bring over themed loot boxes and new items to tie up the holiday vibe nicely, similar to what occurred during Overwatch's Halloween and Olympics-themed events.
Data miners have recently discovered Christmas jingles tucked deep inside the game's files, so the Christmas event was expected to be announced. Blizzard hasn't shied away from providing timely events for Overwatch, so Christmas, for Blizzard, apparently was a no-brainer.
Popularity Of Overwatch
The game's popularity has soared significantly since its release back in May this year, managing to crop 20 million players onto its shore as of present. Blizzard's piecemeal updates has done the game a huge favor and has largely kept it fresh as it continues to age. Additions like events and heroes, with the most recent one being Sombra, shows that the Overwatch hype isn't to dwindle anytime soon, as is not the case with other games.
Apart from loot boxes, skins or sprays, previous events also added unique game modes to Overwatch. For example, players received the Lucioball mode for the Olympics event while the Halloween event paved the way for Junkenstein's Revenge, a frenzied cooperative mode.
Other Overwatch News
Blizzard also recently added a new map to the Overwatch PTR named Oasis, a sprawling Arabian-themed desert city touted as the hub of human intelligence and invention. It also recently brought changes to the hero Symmetra, giving her new abilities such as Photon Barrier which replaces her Photon Shield ability. She also comes equipped with a new ultimate ability called Shield Generator, which grants additional shields to any ally within the effective radius.
Symmetra's Photon Projector ability has also increased its range from five meters to seven meters. Her Teleporter ability has also decreased its health from 200 to 50, with increased shields from 0 to 250.
The changes to Symmetra, according to the developers, were brought on by her detrimental Teleporter.
"[S]he didn't feel active enough, and she often felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes, due to her Teleporter." Blizzard wrote.
Overwatch is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
