Blizzard has just unveiled the next event coming to massively popular multiplayer shooter Overwatch, and it will be in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
The event, named Year of the Rooster, will be following up Winter Wonderland, which only ended a few weeks ago.
Overwatch's Year Of The Rooster Event
Blizzard made the announcement for the Year of the Rooster event through a video uploaded through the official Overwatch Twitter account.
"Good luck and great fortune await," the tweet accompanying the video said. Revealed in the video was the launch date of the event, which would be on Jan. 24, and what is likely an event-specific skin for Mei.
There were no other details mentioned in the video, including how long the event will last and what brawl for Year of the Rooster will be. Blizzard will likely reveal more information of the upcoming event over the next few days.
Year Of The Rooster Legendary Skin For Mei
The skin for Mei shown in the teaser video could be Blizzard's way of apologizing for the controversial legendary skin that the Overwatch development team released for the Winter Wonderland event.
Many gamers expected Mei, with her frost gun and ice-based skills, to be the star of Winter Wonderland. While the event-specific brawl, Mei's Snowball Offensive, highlighted everyone's favorite climatologist, players were disappointed, some even outraged, at the legendary skin that Mei received.
Fans of Mei were looking forward to an event-specific legendary skin for Mei for Winter Wonderland, as she did not receive one for the first two events of Overwatch. However, what players got was a simple re-color of Mei's usual clothes, replacing the color of the blue-and-white outfit to the holiday colors of red and green, and giving her a Santa hat.
Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan explained that the skin received legendary status because, when using the skin, her Cryo-Freeze skill will instead transform her into a snowman instead of a block of ice. Kaplan, however, was receptive to the feedback, and then promised that Mei will be receiving something awesome in early 2017.
It seems that Kaplan's promise has arrived in the form of an intricate legendary skin for Mei in Year of the Rooster.
D.Va Also Gets Legendary Skin For Year Of The Rooster
Mei players are not the only ones who have received an early treat for Year of the Rooster though, as the teaser video released for the event by the South Korean Twitter account of Overwatch unveiled an event-specific skin for gamer-girl-turned-mech-pilot D.Va.
The skin for D.Va shows her in traditional South Korean garb, with her mech likewise receiving celebratory designs.
D.Va is also currently in the middle of controversy right now, due to the nerfs that will be applied to her in the near future that are currently being tested in the game's public test region.
Did Blizzard tease the legendary skins for Mei and D.Va to appease players? We might never know, but it is certainly plausible.
Year Of The Rooster Event Speculation
All previous Overwatch events lasted for about three weeks, so it is likely that Year of the Rooster will run until the middle of February. It is unusual for a new event to launch this soon though, as there was a gap of about two months in between the previous events.
The launch of Year of the Rooster likely means that Overwatch will not have a Valentine's Day event. Either Blizzard is planning to do that next year, or it will celebrate the occasion by releasing a few cosmetic upgrades.
