Will there be a Fortnite New Year event in 2023? Explained

Will there be a Fortnite New Year event in 2023? Yes, there will certainly be a mini in-game event to celebrate the start of the new year. However, this will be less of an "event" and more of an in-game showcase. Players will not be able to interact with any of the assets shown now.

Furthermore, they will not have to queue up in a separate lobby to witness the showcase when it occurs. This will happen over the course of a normal match, and everyone who's in it at the moment will get to witness it unfold live.

---

What can players expect to see during the Fortnite New Year event?

Much like every year, when the clock strikes midnight in the Eastern Time Zone on January 31, 2022, a mini Fortnite New Year event will occur in-game. A giant disco ball will appear through a rift in the sky before the countdown for 2023 begins.

Once the countdown ends, all players on the map, friends and foes alike, will receive the Boogie Bomb effect. They will stop whatever they are doing and break out into dance for a few seconds.

During this time, they will not be able to use any items, weapons, or mechanics such as Sprint or even the newly added Reality Augments. They will only be able to walk around the map. In addition to a giant disco ball rotating in the sky, fireworks will also be showcased.

Towards the end of the celebrations, the disco ball will burst open, and shortly after this occurs, a giant firework will explode in the background.

A giant Loot Llama will appear in the sky with '2023' written next to it. After a few seconds, everything will go back to normal in-game.

As of now, Epic Games has not officially announced this Fortnite New Year event on their social media platforms; however, given that it exists in the game files and was added in during the update v23.10, it will come to pass.

That said, the timings will be odd for players from regions such as India, Australia, Dubai, and Malaysia. Unless Epic Games plans on hosting the festivities based on regional timing, they will be seeing the Fortnite New Year event during mid-day.

---

Will players get any free gifts for the Fortnite New Year event 2023?

Currently, there's no information about a potential New Year's gift. Furthermore, given that the developers pulled the plug on Winterfest 2022 early, it's unlikely that a freebie will be waiting around the corner to be claimed.

Crew subscribers will unlock the next stage of Photonic and Zen Legacy Sets on January 1, 2023 (Image via Epic Games/Fortnite)

The only assured gift will be for active Crew subscribers. They will unlock the next stage of the Photonic and Zen Legacy Sets. However, since Crew is a paid service, the definition of 'free' is up for debate.

That said, players should claim all Winterfest 2022 gifts from Cozy Lodge before January 3, 2023. They should also claim the Guff Gringle skin from the Item Shop. If nothing else, these freebies can act as proxy New Year gifts.