When does Winterfest 2025 start in Fortnite?

Fortnite's Winterfest, the game's signature holiday-season celebration, is about to begin, bringing some freebies you won't want to miss.

Following the same structure as last year, Winterfest 2025 will take you back to Crackshot's cabin, which has been decorated with a touch of wizardry, and will offer some sweet free rewards, including free outfits and items. To get your hands on these prizes, you just need to log in every day for the event period, so think of it as a Fortnite's Advent calendar.

Since missing a single day of the event could mean missing out on one cool free prize, you'll want to mark on your calendar when exactly the first one is becoming available. To help you with that, we figured out when Fortnite Winterfest 2025 starts in your time zone as well as what you should expect from this year's event.

What time does Fortnite Winterfest 2025 start in your time zone?

Winterfest 2025 in Fortnite begins on Thursday, Dec. 18, as indicated by a teaser trailer recently posted on the game's official X profile. Epic Games hasn't shared an official release time for Winterfest as of writing this, but it'll most likely begin once the maintenance preceding this big update concludes.

Maintenance times can really vary, but below we list an approximation of the times the game may come back from maintenance — and Winterfest will begin:

• 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. PST on Thursday, Dec. 18 for the west coast of North America
• 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 18 for the east coast of North America
• 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. BRT on Thursday, Dec. 18 for Brazil
• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. GMT on Thursday, Dec. 18 for the U.K.
• 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. CET on Thursday, Dec. 18 for western Europe
• 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. JST on Thursday, Dec. 18 for Japan
• 9 p.m. AEDT on Thursday, Dec. 18 to 1 a.m. AEDT on Friday, Dec. 19 for the east coast of Australia

What to expect from Fortnite Winterfest 2025

Although we don't have a lot of information about the event yet, there are a few details in the teaser trailer that give us an idea of what to expect. In the video, we see a fireplace inside a cabin, which suggests that we are going back to Crackshot's cabin. If this year's Winterfest doesn't change from what we have seen in previous iterations of the event, that means you'll be able to log in every day and select a present in the cabin.

Above the fireplace, there is another detail hinting at the kind of present you might find in the cabin. There are four stockings, each representing one of Hogwarts houses from the Harry Potter franchise. It has been shared by Fortnite's X account that other elements from the wizarding world of Harry Potter are coming to the game, like the Chocolate Frog Back Bling, and the teaser is confirming at least some items are tied to the event.

Additionally, as shared by Shiina on X, cosmetics like a robot skin, a cute penguin plush toy, and golden pickaxe may be part of the rewards.

Shiina has also revealed a possible release order for the upcoming Winterfest 2025 shop skins, like the Sabrina Carpenter outfit and even the Bleach outfits.

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