UPDATE ONE: The new Overwatch Winter update is now live on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

And as reported earlier this week, it includes a new reporting tool feature for those affected by in-game issues.

The Player Warning Sytem has been tweaked by Blizzard, the full details can be found below:

"Players being reported will receive an in-game message letting them know that they have been reported, along with a warning concerning continued negative behavior.

"Ongoing misconduct will result in silence, suspension, or a permanent ban, depending on the severity of the infraction (in severe cases, players may receive their punishment before receiving the initial in-game message). 

"Players who report someone for poor behavior, resulting in a disciplinary action, will now be notified with an in-game message when the issue has been resolved. We take every report seriously, along with your feedback. Thank you for your patience as we continue to fine tune these systems."

Away from the new feature, Blizzard have also confirmed that players will also be able to unwrap loot boxes to collect last year’s festive fare in addition to 50 new holiday-themed cosmetics.

This includes legendary skins like Snow Owl Ana, Avalanche Bastion, Beachrat Junkrat, Ice Fisherman Roadhog, Rime Sombra, some of which can be found in the gallery below:

ORIGINAL: The Overwatch Winter Wonderland event kicks off later today, providing fans with new skins and other gear to collect.

There will also be one returning mode - Mei’s snowball offensive - and a new one - Yeti Hunt - making its debut on PS4, Xbox One and PC this week.

And it's now been confirmed that away from all the new and returning content coming to the game, the Overwatch Christmas event will also include at least one new feature.

It should be expected that a bunch of new changes would also be launched today, with various character balancing tweaks part of most patches.

Speaking to PCgamesN, game director Jeff Kaplan confirmed that a new tool will be deployed that will inform you if action has been taken against someone you have reported.

"If you've reported somebody and they've gotten actioned you'll be notified in-game," Jeff Kaplan revealed. 

"We've done a pilot program where we were experimenting sending emails to people. 

“As of that Winter Wonderland patch we'll have the technology to do it directly in the game. Hopefully that restores some of people's faith in the system and then they use it more."

Kaplan has confirmed in the past that toxicity within in Overwatch’s community is something that Blizzard want to help regulate and help other players avoid.

Overwatch's Winter Wonderland Christmas event update a December 12 release date on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

There's no official start time, but Blizzard events and new releases almost always go live at 6-7pm UK time.

Likewise, events typically last for three weeks, which means Winter Wonderland should stick around until January 2, 2018.

The Overwatch Christmas event launches with a brand new game mode centred around Mei, as well as a host of new and returning skins, plus a big update with even bigger patch notes.

The new outfits include a skin for Hanzo that was previously seen in an Overwatch comic, with Junkrat and Roadhog also getting new outfits for the event.

New skins tend to leak ahead of time, so stay tuned for any updates.

Mei's Yeti Hunt is also arriving today, providing a new asymmetrical game mode in which a team of five Mei characters hunt down a single Winston player.

Winston's job is to search the map for meat-based power-ups that will fuel his 'Primal Rage'.

If Winston succeeds in powering up before being captured, then the tables turn and the Mei team must escape.

Fans will also be pleased to find out that Mei’s Snowball Offensive is making a return.

The 6-v-6 game mode is essentially a giant snowball fight in which Mei's primary fire only has one fire. The plus side is that it only takes one hit to kill an enemy.

Mei's Ultimate unleashes an infinite flurry of snowballs, but only for a brief time.