Gears of War: E-Day Launches in Early Access Without Classic Features, Sets Steam Record
The story so far
On October 1, 2026, IGN reported that The Coalition confirmed in a developer blog that Gears of War: E-Day would not include classic series features such as taking enemies hostage as human shields or Lancer assault rifle chainsaw duels at launch, because the game builds its gameplay sandbox from scratch rather than following the framework of previous titles. On October 2, Kotaku reported that the game launched on October 1 for players who purchased early access and is an Xbox exclusive; the development team said in the blog that the game rebuilt the entire gameplay sandbox from scratch on a new hard drive, so it could not include all legacy series features at launch, such as human shields, chainsaw duels, some past weapons, and online content including private rooms and leaderboards, and that these features have not disappeared from the series and the team would consider adding them after launch or in a future title. The same day, Eurogamer reported that the game opened on the previous day to early access players who purchased the Premium Edition, Premium Upgrade Edition, or Collector's Edition, and that players noticed the absence of chainsaw duels, human shields, some past series weapons, and private rooms and leaderboards. On October 2, Pure Xbox reported that about 24 hours after the game opened to Premium Upgrade, Premium Edition, and Collector's Edition users, its Steam concurrent peak reached 20,374, surpassing the record of 10,196 set by Gears 5.
Generated from the reports · updated 5 days ago
Developments
3 developments
- Oct 10 08:31 · 1 reportsEurogamer报道《战争机器：E-Day》缺少标志性功能@Eurogamer: Gears of War: E-Day Missing Iconic Features
- Oct 2 21:30 · 1 reports战争机器：E-Day抢先体验Steam在线峰值破系列纪录Pure Xbox: Gears of War: E-Day Sets Steam Series Record and Earns Xbox Series S Praise in First 24 Hours
- Oct 1 19:34 · 3 reports《战争机器：E-Day》首发缺少经典功能IGN: Gears of War: E-Day Will Miss Classic Features Like Meat Shields and Chainsaw Duels at Launch
Timeline
Follow the reports, and the sides of the story.
- @EurogamerGears of War: E-Day Missing Iconic Features
Gears of War: E-Day is missing iconic features like chainsaw duels and meat shields, but The Coalition says we shouldn't worry - they're "not gone from the franchise". https://bit.ly/4dQCUYl
- Pure XboxGears of War: E-Day Sets Steam Series Record and Earns Xbox Series S Praise in First 24 Hours
About 24 hours after Gears of War: E-Day opened to Premium Upgrade, Premium Edition and Collector's Edition owners, it peaked at 20,374 concurrent players on Steam, beating Gears 5's record of 10,196. Digital Foundry reported that Xbox and The Coalition developed a technique using the SSD as a new tier of memory to supplement the 10GB of GDDR6 on Series S, so that version does not get a stripped-back world. The full release is set for October 6.
- EurogamerGears of War: E-Day is missing chainsaw duels and meat shields, but The Coalition says they're "not gone from the franchise"
Gears of War: E-Day opened to early access players yesterday for those who bought the Premium Edition, Premium Upgrade Edition, or Collector's Edition, and some players noted missing legacy features such as chainsaw duels, meat shields, select past weapons, private lobbies, and leaderboards. In a statement timed with the launch, The Coalition said those features may arrive post-launch or in its next title, explaining that it rebuilt the gameplay sandbox from scratch for a more unified experience across campaign, PvE, and PvP. The first season runs eight weeks from the early access release to 1st December, ranked PvP arrives on 13th October, and the game's general release is 6th October.
- KotakuGears of War: E-Day Devs Explain Missing Launch Features and Reveal Season Roadmap
Gears of War: E-Day launched on October 1 for players who bought early access to the new Xbox console exclusive. The developers said in a blog post that they built the entire gameplay sandbox from scratch on an empty hard drive, so legacy features like Meat Shields, Chainsaw Duels, select past weapons, Private Lobbies and leaderboards could not all be included at launch, though they are not gone from the franchise. Versus Ranked arrives October 13, Season 1 runs themed events through December 1, and later seasons are named Legacy and Beyond, Infiltration, Pendulum and Devotion.
- IGNGears of War: E-Day Will Miss Classic Features Like Meat Shields and Chainsaw Duels at Launch
The Coalition confirmed in a developer blog that Gears of War: E-Day will not include classic series features such as taking enemies hostage as meat shields or dueling with Lancer chainsaw attachments at launch, because the prequel's gameplay sandbox was built from scratch rather than on previous Gears titles. The studio said it is working to deliver these features, along with Private Lobbies and leaderboards, post-launch or in its next title. The first Season begins with Early Access today at 8am PT and runs eight weeks until December 1, including all launch maps, modes and cosmetics plus three seasonal events, with Ranked modes arriving October 13.
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