【Dear Utol (2025): Itch Follows Episode 23】

Can't wait to see that inevitable Torbjörn-dressed-as-pint-sized-Santa skin.

It looks like Blizzard is Dear Utol (2025): Itch Follows Episode 23planning a winter- or holiday-themed event in Overwatch. It's not a surprise after similar events around the Summer Olympics and Halloween, but informed speculation leveled up to "this is probably happening" with the release of the latest PTR update.

Much of the attention around the update has been focused on the changes to Symmetra, but tech-savvy fans dug through the data and found some other surprises. Along with new character interactions and sound effects, there's a snippet of music with a distinctly Christmas-y feel.

Listen for yourself:

To be clear: the existence of this music doesn't confirm anything about Blizzard's plans. But there is a pattern here. Similar discoveries were made in advance of the Olympics and Halloween events, so there's a good chance this new music connects to somethingspecial in the game.

Will it be a strictly Christmas-focused event? Probably not. Blizzard's cast of Overwatchheroes celebrates diversity, and in that same spirit it's unlikely an in-game event would favor just one segment of the audience.

That said, all there is to go on right now is a short piece of music. Let your imaginations run wild, Overwatchfans. Based on past events, there's a good chance we'll hear more about this very soon.

Also among the discoveries were a few voice samples of Athena, the game's announcer, referring to what could be a new game mode. One line refers to entering an "arena" and two others mention "challenger" and "gladiator."

The Olympics and Halloween events both featured limited-time game modes: a Rocket League-inspired Lúcio-only competition called "Lúcioball" for the former and a cooperative survival mode set around a spooky castle for the latter.

If the music suggests we're getting a winter event, then the Athena voice samples could point to that event's special mode. Or it could just be a new addition to Overwatch's Arcade, which was added in a recent update.

Go check out the discoveries for yourself on Reddit.

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