Holiday gaming 2026: the calendar and every guide

Two promises on this page. First, a date appears only with a source: the store, the publisher or the platform itself. Second, last year's events are never presented as this year's. If a game has not announced its Christmas event, the Christmas events calendar tells you what it ran last December and labels it as last year.

The holiday calendar, November 13, 2026 to January 6, 2027

Not announced on November 13, 2026: World of Tanks Holiday Ops 2027, Fortnite Winterfest 2026, Epic's holiday mystery games, the World of Sea Battle Christmas event ("in the works"), Raid, Hero Wars and Genshin Impact winter events, Roblox winter events, PS Plus December games, and the Nintendo, GOG, Humble and Steam Black Friday sales.

Sales: Black Friday and the Steam Winter Sale

The store sales do not start together. PlayStation is already running its Black Friday promotion until November 30, the Microsoft Store has dated its sale from November 19 to 28, and Epic's developer schedule lists a premium editions sale from November 17. Valve, on the other hand, has no Black Friday sale in its calendar and saves its big event for December 17. Our Black Friday guide lists every store with its status, plus the official offers inside World of Warships, World of Tanks and Pokemon GO, and the Steam Winter Sale guide covers start times, refunds, wishlists and the Steam Awards.

Christmas events in your games

Only World of Warships has previewed its 2026 holiday update so far, with a free Tier IX ship on first login. Everything else, from Holiday Ops to Winterfest, arrives in December, often announced on the day it starts. The Christmas events calendar covers 13 games with this year's status and last year's event, and two games get their own pages: Fortnite Winterfest and Roblox Christmas events.

Holiday Ops Welcomes Benedict Cumberbatch (official World of Tanks channel)

Free games and free gifts

December is giveaway season. Epic gives a free game every Thursday (Knightica now, Alien: Isolation and Mark of the Deep from November 19), and last year it unlocked a new mystery game every day from December 18 to 31. Prime Gaming, PS Plus and Game Pass refresh their lineups monthly, and most online games add advent calendars and login gifts. All of it, with dates, is in free games and giveaways in December. Codes for 40+ games are on the game codes hub.

What to play over the break

Our best free games for Christmas sorts 14 free games by mood: long evenings, quick sessions, family and friends. The top PC pick for a quiet holiday is World of Sea Battle, a free sailing MMO on Steam that runs on 2 GB of RAM and held a Christmas event last winter; this year's is "in the works" according to its developers. It is also the lightest install on the list, so it works on an old laptop as well as a gaming PC. Got a new phone instead? Best mobile games for a new phone lists the first 15 installs with real download sizes, account linking and parental controls.

Gifts: cards, Robux and V-Bucks

Gift cards are the safest present for a gamer if you pick the right one. Roblox codes work worldwide, while Apple, Google Play, Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox cards only work in the country of purchase, and physical Steam cards are leaving shops by the end of 2026. The gaming gift cards guide covers the redeem page, region rule and scams for each, with links to Roblox codes and Fortnite codes.

How we keep this calendar honest

Every row in the calendar was read on the official page or in the publisher's own post on November 13, 2026. Where a store only published a developer schedule (Epic) or an FAQ (Microsoft Store), we say so. Where only outlets report a date and the publisher has not, such as the 2026 Steam Awards nominations, we call it reported. We recheck the pages as announcements arrive: Holiday Ops and Pokemon GO's holiday event are expected around the end of November and early December, Fortnite Winterfest in mid December.

More on the site: the Roblox hub, all games we cover and the codes hub.

CodesGame codes: every code page we runLive code counts for every game we cover, the three steps to redeem in each one, and how to tell a real code from a scam.

HubRoblox: codes, games and guidesHow Roblox codes work, the best games for beginners and what is trending right now.

GamesAll games we coverEvery game hub on the site with its guides and codes.

Holiday 2026 gaming guides

Event guideFortnite Winterfest 2026: dates, free presents and how it worksWinterfest 2026 status, last year's 14 free presents and the December 5 Chapter 7 finale.

Deals guideBlack Friday 2026 gaming deals: every store date we could confirmWhich stores have dated their Black Friday 2026 sales, which have not, and the free-to-play offers already announced.

Sale guideSteam Winter Sale 2026: dates, rules and how to prepareValve's dates, the 10 a.m. Pacific start, Steam Awards voting, refunds, wishlists and the best free games for the break.

Event calendarChristmas events in games 2026: the official calendarHoliday Ops, Santa's Gifts, Winterfest and the rest: what is confirmed, what ran last year, when to check again.

Roblox guideRoblox Christmas events 2026: winter events, free items and safetyPlatform events, holiday updates in the big games, the real ways to get free items and how parents keep Robux under control.

Gift guideGaming gift cards as Christmas presents: how to buy, redeem and stay safeWhere each card is redeemed, which ones are locked to a country, how to gift inside a store and how to spot the scams.

GiveawaysFree games and giveaways in December 2026Where free full games and free in-game gifts come from this holiday season, with every confirmed date.

Best ofThe best free games to play at Christmas 2026Fourteen free games for the holidays, grouped by how you want to play, with the specs each store page prints.

New phone guideBest mobile games for a new phone: what to install firstFifteen free games by genre with App Store sizes, how to move your progress, and the Apple and Google controls to set before day one.

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