Xbox put a real date on it this time. Gears of War: E-Day lands October 6, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and it is in Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass the same day. Steam and the Microsoft Store are already taking pre-orders.
What’s locked in
- October 6, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass. No PlayStation version.
- Origin story. Fourteen years before the first Gears, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago on Emergence Day.
- Unreal Engine 5, with Xbox quoting 4K and up to 60fps in campaign and multiplayer.
- Co-op: solo, two-player split-screen on console, or up to four people online.
- Horde Siege and 4v4 Versus are the multiplayer pitch, not the old 50-wave Horde setup.
- Pre-order extra: Exfil Dom skin (Horde Siege and Versus only) plus the Exfil weapon skins. No Golden Lancer. The Xbox store pre-order page also mentions a gift card on some orders; that is store-page fine print, not an edition extra.
- Premium Edition gets up to five days early (October 1), not a 72-hour head start.
The campaign, from the story trailer
The new story trailer is the one worth watching. It is an origin story, not a replay of the old Jacinto campaign. You are in the first hours of the Locust coming up from underground, with a younger Marcus and Dom trying not to get wiped out. Xbox is pretty blunt about how you play it: on your own, on the couch with someone (console only), or online with as many as four.
The Coalition has not published a chapter list, and the Xbox game page does not say “12 chapters” or “three acts,” so I am not going to pretend it does. Same for branching endings, a named Emergence meter, or RAAM showing up as a repeating boss. None of that is on the official pages.
What they will talk about is combat. Cover is still the whole personality of Gears, with some newer movement on top: slide, vault, a bit of verticality. If you want the actual feature list, it is on the Xbox E-Day page, not in a tweet.
Horde is the other thing people keep describing like it is 2011. The launch mode is Horde Siege. You pick Assault, Marksman, Medic, or Breacher, you drop in as a four-player squad, and you can stack squads on bigger maps for shared objectives and world bosses. Versus is 4v4. That is the version Xbox and Steam are selling.
PC specs
Steam has the launch requirements up. A couple of things jump out: you need a ray-tracing capable GPU even on minimum, an SSD is required, and the install is 130 GB, not 120. There is no official “Ultra / 64 GB RAM / 4K 120” row.
| Tier | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Ryzen 5 2600X / i7-6850K / i5-10400 | RTX 5050 / RTX 2060 / RX 6600 / RX 9060 | 12 GB | 130 GB SSD |
| Recommended | Ryzen 5 5600 / i5-11600K | RTX 5060 / RTX 3060 Ti / RX 6700 XT / RX 9060 XT | 16 GB | 130 GB SSD |
Minimum OS is Windows 10 64-bit (Steam lists 22H2 / build 19045.7291). Recommended is Windows 11 64-bit 25H2 or newer. DirectX 12 on both. NVIDIA and The Coalition post names DLSS 4.5 including multi frame generation. Steam lists AMD FSR Redstone. XeSS and Advanced Shader Delivery are not on those official pages. DirectStorage 1.2 60% load times still denied.
Steam also says it is set up for handheld play on Steam Deck, Xbox Ally, and Ally X. No 800p/30 target on that page. Full breakdown is on the Steam page.
Editions and what they actually include
There is no Deluxe SKU and no $109 Ultimate bundle. On Xbox and Steam you are looking at Standard, Premium, a Premium upgrade if you already bought Standard, and a physical Collector’s Edition with a short run. Pre-orders opened June 7. Details live on the official editions page.
| Edition | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $69.99 | Base game. Pre-order also unlocks the Exfil Dom skin and Exfil weapon skins. |
| Premium | $99.99 | Game, up to 5 days early (October 1), Bravo Squad Signature Weapon Pack (campaign), 1,000 Iron, and five seasonal cosmetic packs. Emergence Pack is the one at launch; the rest come later. |
| Collector’s | Check the Xbox Game Studios Shop | Physical bundle plus the Premium digital extras. 15-inch Marcus and Dom statue, replica of Carlos Santiago’s COG tags, SteelBook (Luke Preece), art print, in-game photo, thank-you note from The Coalition. Series X version has a disc; Steam gets a code. Ships October 1. Limited. |
I left a dollar amount off Collector’s because I could not confirm one on the official shop pages without guessing. If a retailer card says otherwise, believe the retailer, not a round number somebody made up. Also: there is no Season Pass with four story DLCs through 2027. Premium’s extra content is cosmetics, early access, Iron, and that campaign weapon pack.
When you can play
Premium and Collector’s owners get up to five days early, which is October 1. Everybody else, including Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, is October 6. Xbox has not posted preload times or console install sizes that I can find. Steam wants 130 GB on an SSD.
Buy it on the Xbox store and Play Anywhere gives you the game on Series X|S and Xbox on PC with one purchase. Steam is its own storefront; that page lists cross-platform multiplayer and roaming saves if you link accounts. Online play on console still needs a Game Pass plan that includes multiplayer. Split-screen is console only.
The Open Beta already happened, for what it is worth. Early access was August 6-10 for pre-orders and Game Pass Ultimate / PC Game Pass. The open weekend was August 13-17. There is no September beta on the calendar.
FAQ
When does Gears of War: E-Day come out?
October 6, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam and Microsoft Store). Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass day one. Premium/Collector’s can play October 1. That is from the Xbox game page.
Is it on PS5?
No. Xbox and PC only.
Cross-play?
On the platforms it actually ships on. Steam lists cross-platform multiplayer. Play Anywhere is the Xbox-store version of buy-once, play on console and PC.
Is there a Season Pass?
Not a story-DLC pass. Premium is early access plus seasonal cosmetic packs and the Bravo Squad weapon pack. Steam does not even list a separate Season Pass DLC.
Can I play the campaign in co-op?
Yes. Up to four online. Two-player split-screen on Xbox consoles only.
Is there still a multiplayer beta?
That window closed in mid-August. Pre-ordering now is for the game, the Exfil skins, and (if you go Premium) early access in October. Don’t wait around for a September beta that is not happening.
