Gears of War: E-Day early access started October 1 at 8:00 a.m. PT / 15:00 UTC. The Coalition’s worldwide launch is October 6 at the same time.
Early access is for Premium Edition owners and Game Pass subscribers who have the Premium Upgrade. The Premium Edition is $69.99 and includes the Exfil Dom character skin and the Exfil Weapon Skin Set.
Where it is playable
The game is on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Steam. Cloud play is through Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce NOW. Xbox Wire also says E-Day is part of the Disc to Digital program for the early-access release.
Campaign, Horde Siege, Versus, and co-op online play need a Game Pass tier that includes online multiplayer, sold separately.
What launches with it
The campaign is an origin story set 14 years before the original Gears of War. Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago are on the ground as the Locust Horde first comes up. It can be played solo, in two-player split-screen, or with up to four players online.
Horde Siege is the PvE wave mode, with larger maps, class picks — Assault, Marksman, Medic, and Breacher — shared objectives, and world bosses. Versus is 4v4, with new maps plus Ranked and Social playlists. The Coalition says the game is built in Unreal Engine 5 and targets 4K at 60 frames per second.
Studio head Mike Crump marked the early-access start on Xbox Wire: “Today is a moment we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. On behalf of everyone at The Coalition, thank you to the fans who have followed us on this journey. We can’t wait for you to experience Emergence Day for yourselves.”
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/10/01/gears-of-war-e-day-early-access-launch-trailer-xbox