Gears of War: E-Day: Release Date, Platforms, Editions and Season 1

Quick facts

	Gears of War: E-Day
Developer / publisher	The Coalition / Xbox Game Studios
Genre	Third-person cover shooter
Release	October 6, 2026, 8:00 a.m. PT / 15:00 UTC (worldwide)
Early access	October 1, 2026, 8:00 a.m. PT / 15:00 UTC (Premium Edition, Premium Upgrade or Collector's Edition)
Platforms	Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC (Xbox app / Microsoft Store), Steam
Game Pass	Included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one
Cloud	Game Pass Ultimate cloud gaming and GeForce NOW
Cross-buy	Xbox Play Anywhere: buy once, play on Xbox and PC with shared progress and achievements
Engine	Unreal Engine 5, 4K and up to 60 FPS in campaign and multiplayer (compatible display needed)

PlayStation and Switch: the official Xbox and Gears of War pages list only Xbox Series X|S, PC and Steam. No PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch version has been announced.

Launch time in your time zone

Both early access and the worldwide launch unlocked at the same moment everywhere: 8:00 a.m. Pacific / 15:00 UTC.

Time zone	Early access (Oct 1)	Worldwide launch (Oct 6)
US Pacific (PDT)	8:00 AM	8:00 AM
US Eastern (EDT)	11:00 AM	11:00 AM
UTC	15:00	15:00
UK (BST)	16:00	16:00
Central Europe (CEST)	17:00	17:00
India (IST)	20:30	20:30
China / Singapore / Philippines (UTC+8)	23:00	23:00
Japan / Korea (UTC+9)	00:00, Oct 2	00:00, Oct 7
Sydney (AEST, UTC+10)	01:00, Oct 2	—
Sydney (AEDT, UTC+11, from Oct 4)	—	02:00, Oct 7

Editions and prices

Edition	Price (US)	What you get
Standard (digital & physical)	$69.99	The base game
Premium (digital)	$99.99	Base game, up to 5 days early access, Bravo Squad Signature Weapon Pack (campaign only), five Seasonal Customization Packs starting with the Emergence Pack at launch, 1,000 Iron (premium in-game currency)
Premium Edition Upgrade	$30.00	Turns Standard or Game Pass access into the Premium content above
Collector's Edition	Limited, by region	15-inch Marcus & Dom diorama statue, 1:1 replica of Carlos Santiago's COG tags, Luke Preece SteelBook, art print, in-game photo, a thank-you note from The Coalition, plus the base game (Xbox Series X disc or Steam code) and the Premium upgrade

Prices are the US list prices on Xbox.com and Steam when we checked. Each Seasonal Customization Pack contains two character skins, two weapon skin sets, two poses and one banner, emblem and icon. The remaining four packs release over the seasons.

The pre-order bonus (Exfil Dom Legendary character skin and the Exfil Legendary weapon skin set) applied to orders placed before October 6, 2026, 7:59 a.m. PT and is no longer offered with new orders.

Story: what "E-Day" means

E-Day is Emergence Day, the moment the Locust Horde first erupts from beneath the planet Sera. The campaign is set 14 years before the original Gears of War. Young soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago and their new squad mates fight through three days and nights in the city of Kalona. The Coalition describes a darker, more horror-focused tone, with reimagined Locust and new creatures and villains.

Modes and co-op

• Campaign: solo, 2-player split-screen (console only) or up to 4 players online. The campaign is mostly linear but has open areas with optional side missions that often reward a weapon mod. A sharp chime when you enter an area means a collectible is nearby.
• Horde Siege (PvE): an expanded take on Horde. Drop in as a 4-player squad and pick a class: Assault, Marksman, Medic or Breacher. Several squads can share objectives and fight world bosses, and you earn rewards and loadout upgrades between matches.
• Versus (PvP): new maps and fan-favorite 4v4 modes, with Social and Ranked playlists. Ranked opened on October 13, 2026, a week after launch.

Online subscription: the official notes say online campaign co-op, Horde Siege, Versus and other multiplayer features need a Game Pass subscription that includes online multiplayer, sold separately. Split-screen is console only.

Season 1: Emergence calendar

Date	What happens
Oct 1 – Dec 1, 2026	Season 1: Emergence (8 weeks). All launch maps, modes and cosmetics.
Oct 13	Versus Ranked launched; weekly challenges refreshed for the first time
Every Tuesday	The in-game Shop rotates. Check it for free featured gifts.
During Season 1	Three two-week events, Halloween, 20 Years of Gears and Thanksgibbing, each with a Versus event mode, a Horde Siege event mission and exclusive rewards. Exact dates are announced closer to each event.
Nov 7	20th-anniversary gift for every E-Day player (the original Gears of War launched Nov 7, 2006)
After Dec 1	Season 2: Legacy, themed on the series' greatest hits. The legendary skin for the "Dead Serious" achievement debuts here.
Later	Season 3: Infiltration · Season 4: Pendulum · Season 5: Devotion (at least five post-launch seasons)

Not in the game at launch

E-Day was built from scratch, and The Coalition says some legacy features didn't make launch: Meat Shields, Chainsaw Duels, some classic weapons, Private Lobbies and leaderboards. The studio says it is weighing which to add after launch or in its next game, with no dates yet.

PC system requirements (Steam)

	Minimum	Recommended
OS	Windows 10 64-bit 22H2 (build 19045.7291)	Windows 11 64-bit 25H2 or newer
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel i7-6850K / i5-10400	AMD Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel i5-11600K
RAM	12 GB	16 GB
GPU	Hardware ray tracing GPU required: RTX 5050 / RTX 2060 / RX 6600 / RX 9060	RTX 5060 / RTX 3060 Ti / RX 6700 XT / RX 9060 XT
DirectX	12	12
Storage	115 GB, SSD required	115 GB, SSD required

A GPU without hardware ray tracing (for example a GTX 1660) is below the minimum. On PC, Advanced Shader Delivery cuts shader-compile time in the Xbox PC app. It worked on AMD at launch, with NVIDIA support due later in October.

Launch known issues (official)

• Playing a long stretch without reloading checkpoints can cause memory issues. If you're stuck at an encounter or objective, reload a checkpoint.
• The game process can keep running after you close it. End it in Task Manager.
• In Benchmark mode, the performance overlay doesn't count generated frames, so it can show a lower FPS than you're actually getting.
• When you join a lobby on someone else's save, you get all of that save's earlier secondary-objective and hardcase progress.

Official tips from Xbox Wire

Stay in cover and move cover to cover. Blind-fire from cover when an enemy gets close. Learn melee early, because the prologue teaches it with a pipe and the Snub pistol before you get a rifle. Swap loadouts at caches around Kalona, for example the Chainsaw Lancer as an all-rounder, the Gnasher shotgun up close and the Longshot for big targets like Boomers.