Festive Surprise Brings Holiday Cheer To GTA Online

Los Santos is an equal opportunities city, meaning you get gifts regardless of whether you were naughty or nice. This comes in handy for players of Grand Theft Auto Online where being naughty is just about the only way to get ahead. Rockstar has brought some of the holiday spirit to the game with the Festive Surprise update, adding new content alongside some free gifts.

Anyone who logs into GTA Online will see the effects right away. Snow has returned to Los Santos in a very rare GTA Online event. It will quickly melt, before coming back briefly for New Years', before disappearing again for another 12 months. Various locations in the game have also been decorated in accordance with the holidays.

If you set aside some time from Christmas Day, you also stand to earn a special in-game gift. All players who log in sometime during the 25th of December will get the game's newest car, the Vapid Clique, for free. It's even tricked out to look like a present - but you can customize it later on to fit other seasons too.

Should all the warm and fuzzy festivities leave you wanting for violence, Rockstar has you covered. A new mode has been added to Arena War called Bomb Ball. It's a bit like Rocket League, but the balls explode after a while. The goal is pretty simple - knock, push or shove the ball into the opponent's goal before it goes boom. As far as Arena War modes go, this seems like a fun and creative reimagining of a traditional sport.

Rockstar has also announced some of what they have planned for the near future. Tomorrow, on the 26th of December, the Grotti Itali GTO will become available from Legendary Motorsport. As a futuristic performance hypercar, be prepared to pay colossal amounts for it.

There are other gifts on offer too, these more long-term. Any player who logs into GTA Online between today and the 7th of January will receive free Grotti and Weeny logo t-shirts in-game. Additionally, Rockstar is doing a new spin on the Advent Calendar by making their own that starts with Christmas, rather than ends with it. Check out what gifts you stand to receive:

• Dec. 25 – Vapid Clique, Up-N-Atomizer Pistol, Slasher Festive Sweater, 5 Festive Liveries for the Chernobog, Firework Launcher w/ 10 Firework Rockets, 25 Sticky Bombs, 25 Grenades, 5 Proximity Mines, 5 Molotovs, Full Snacks & Armor
• Dec. 26 – Blue Bleeder Festive Sweater & Festive Liveries for the Mammoth Avenger
• Dec. 27 – Green Slaying Festive Sweater & Festive Liveries for HVY Barrage
• Dec. 28 – Hail Santa Festive Sweater, Free Nagasaki Buzzard & Festive Liveries for the APC
• Dec. 29 – Blue Cluckin' Festive Sweater & Festive Liveries for Buckingham Akula
• Dec. 30 – Merry Sprunkmas Festive Sweater & Festive Liveries for Comet Safari
• Dec. 31 – New Year’s Eve Gift (Black & Red Bones Festive Sweater, Fireworks and more), free HVY Insurgent Pick-Up & Festive Liveries for the Pegassi Oppressor
• Jan. 1 – New Year’s Day Gift (Red Bones Festive Sweater, Fireworks and more)

With all the gifts you've had to buy for relatives and friends, the holidays are no doubt hard on the wallet. To make things easier on your finances, Rockstar has made several ways to earn double GTA$ available all the way through the 7th of January.

Client Jobs (Terrorbyte Missions), Biker Contract Missions, Gunrunning Sales, Special Cargo Sales and Smuggler's Run Cargo Sales all pay out double cash and RP, while Nightclub income and bodyguard salaries have also been doubled. A bunch of items and vehicles are on discount, which is Rockstar's way of saying "buy yourself something nice for me".

Check back for the latest on GTA Online festivities.