Great news! Overwatch is now free to play until January 2. Any new players who jump into the action during the free trial will have their progress carried over into the paid version of the game, if they choose to buy it afterwards.
The free trial is available on PC through Battle.net, PS4 and PS5 through PlayStation Plus and Xbox One and Series X/S through an Xbox Live Gold membership. Unfortunately, the trial doesn’t apply to Nintendo Switch players, who’ll still have to purchase the game to play during the Christmas period.
Overwatch is a team-based shooter where teams of five play as a roster of heroes with unique abilities. Each hero has an ultimate ability that can turn the tide of a game in their team’s favour, like Mercy’s Valkyrie, which massively buffs her healing abilities and allows her to fly, and Pharah’s Barrage, which sends out powerful missiles with a large area of effect.
The game’s been running since 2016 and has received multiple new maps and heroes in that time. It’s currently running its annual Christmas event, Winter Wonderland, which adds new festive skins for heroes and new game modes like Snowball Deathmatch and Yeti Hunter. Anyone who gets the game during the free trial can play the Winter Wonderland modes and unlock the new skins, including the Snowman skin for Wrecking Ball and the Reindeer skin for Orisa, which turns the hulking robot into a red-nosed reindeer — with a menacing, glowing red nose.
Overwatch 2 is currently in development, but Blizzard hasn’t announced a release date yet, so we have to make do with new content like this in the original for a little while longer.
The Winter Wonderland event is live until January 6, meaning players in the free trial will miss out on the last few days — and their final chance to unlock the festive skins.
