Marvel Rivals is throwing its hat into the ring of the best free to play gaming Christmas events with the introduction of its very own: The Winter Celebration.
It all kicks off tomorrow, December 20, and introduces a festive new mode, collectible greetings cards, and, most importantly, a series of new costumes. Some of these are free, while others you have to pay for.
There’s also space for a bunch of bug fixes and general optimisations to help smooth out the whole experience. Let’s take a look at what you should expect.
When Does Marvel Rivals: The Winter Celebration Arrive?
- Begins: December 20 at 7:00 AM GMT
- Ends: January 9 at 4:00 PM GMT
The Winter Celebration drops in Marvel Rivals on December 20 at 7:00 AM GMT. It runs all the way through to January 9, 2025, at 4:00 PM GMT.

What’s Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival?
This is the brand new mode. Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival sees you taking control of the adorable land shark Jeff. Your goal is to decorate the Royal Palace’s garden of Yggsgard in snow, to help everyone get into the festive spirit.
How do I Collect All of the Gallery Cards?
By completing missions. This is the second of three introductions arriving as part of the Marvel Rivals Christmas event.
Pop online and you will see a bunch of new missions waiting for you. These reward Golden and Silver Frost. Complete them, earn the currency, and spend it on winter greetings cards.

What Are the New Costumes?
There are five new costumes in total, for the following characters:
- Jeff the Land Shark
- Groot
- Rocket Raccoon
- Venom
- Magik
Jeff’s costume is absolutely free, while the others are only available in the store.
The Rest: Bug Fixes and Optimisations
Let’s round out the update by looking at the bug fixes and optimisations also included in this update. We’re going to drop them straight from the official patch notes themselves, but we’ll include a link so you can head straight over there and check them out. Fascinating as they are.
Bug Fixes
All Platforms
General
1. Double-Elimination Tournament Display: Fixed an issue where the round display was as twisted as Loki’s schemes. Now, it’s crystal clear!
2. Tournament Exit Glitch: No more leaving the faction after a tournament and hitting a white screen of doom! We’ve fixed that pesky issue.
3. Historical Faction Access: After a tournament ends, disbanding top factions won’t let you peek into the historical faction interface from the Legends Born leaderboard anymore. Fixed it faster than Quicksilver!
4. Faction Exit Scheduling: Exiting a faction post-tournament no longer messes with your scheduling info. All sorted!
5. Squirrel Girl Achievement: Enemies defeated by Unbeatable Squirrel Tsunami that get KO’d two seconds after being released now count towards the achievement!
6. Network Stability: Under poor network conditions, the map loading issue has been partially resolved! We’re on the case, ensuring you don’t get kicked offline due to connectivity issues. (There are many reasons that could cause this situation, and we have currently fixed part of the issues. We will continue to analyze and address other potential causes in the future.)Maps and Gameplay
1. Collision Issues: Some maps had characters stuck in edge positions like they were caught in a web. We’re monitoring this and will deploy fixes faster than Spider-Man can swing through the city!
2. Convoy Mission Performance: We’ve corrected an issue with abnormal vehicle performance during special convoy missions. All vehicles should now run as smoothly as a Quinjet!Hero Bug Fixes
1. Doctor Strange’s Portal Power: No more teammates charging Doctor Strange’s ultimate ability through portals. Also, the portal terrain KOs are back in action!
2. Winter Soldier Speed: After using his ultimate, the Winter Soldier’s movement speed issues upon respawn have been fixed. He’s back to full combat readiness!
3. Rocket Raccoon’s Jet Packs: Fixed the issue preventing Rocket’s beacon-generated rocket jet packs from being picked up. They’re now ready for action!
4. Venom’s Emote: The “Cyan Clash” emote’s texture has been corrected. No more blue-black tentacles looking like they belong in a horror movie!
5. Star-Lord’s Low Gravity Glitch: Star-Lord’s unexpected shaking when using Shift while holding Space in low gravity zones has been fixed. Now he’ll rise with style!
6. Jeff the Land Shark’s Ultimate: No more premature ends to Jeff’s ultimate after swallowing a target. He’s now living the ultimate life longer!
7. Terrain Deaths with Jeff: Fixed an issue where Jeff’s ultimate would cause terrain KOs and occasionally lead to invisibility. He’s back in a visible form!
8. Hulk and Hela Ultimate Countdown: The countdown for Hulk and Hela’s ultimate transformations is now properly managed. No transformations will go amiss!
9. Hela’s Wind-up Fix: Hela’s ultimate can no longer be interrupted prematurely. She’s ready to unleash her full power!
10. Punisher’s Ultimate Damage: Fixed the occasional damage issue with Punisher’s ultimate caused by intense fluctuations in network conditions. His firepower will be felt!
11. Duplicate Characters: The clone saga is over! Fixed the issue where two identical characters might appear in some special cases.Console
1. Memory Mastery: We’ve taken our optimization powers to the next level, ensuring that console memory management is smoother than Star-Lord’s dance moves. Say goodbye to crashes caused by insufficient memory and hello to uninterrupted gameplay!
Marvel Rivals