Fresh from rolling out a major December update, developer Bungie has announced a new surprise in store for hardcore players of its sci-fi futuristic shooter "Destiny." According to the developer, December also marks a return of an old favorite game mode.

In a tweet, Bungie announced that the next Iron Banner event will be unlocked before the month ends, on Dec. 29. Upon opening, the Iron Banner event will be first since the major update rolled out. The last one was held in the middle of November.

The Iron Banner event is a special, limited-time Crucible additional playlist that Bungie rolls out from time to time. However, not all can participate in the event. Every Iron Banner event requires teams of six players to have individual levels of at least 40.

Apparently, the developer planned it so that two events for December will be back-to-back. The opening of the next Iron Banner event coincides with the conclusion of another timed exclusive event for December, the Sparrow Racing League. True to its name, the SRL pits players against each other in a racing circuit, with Bungie throwing in different mini-events like the newly concluded Bungie Bounty.

Meanwhile, it seems that Bungie also already mapped out succeeding updates well over into 2016. According to Vine Report, community manager Eric Osborne teased fans with upcoming expansion content that will be rolled out for the first half of next year.

Reportedly, DLC plans from winter 2015 to spring 2016 have already been laid out, and Bungie also plans to release a volume of new content for next year. Apparently, another major update is in the works, with the update bigger than the third expansion for the title, The Taken King. However, Osborne did not mention if the update will be a major 2.2 one (after the 2.1.0 update this month), or since it is being compared to a DLC, if the next planned extra content will already be a fourth expansion.