Is Gears of War: E-Day Still On Track For Release In 2026?

Given all the bad news regarding Xbox layoffs last week, now seems like the appropriate time to question what’s going on with their first-party game lineups. Today, I’d like to begin with an open conversation about Gears of War: E-Day.

We all watched the Xbox Showcase last month and noticed that this game was absent from the show. Phil Spencer promised that E-Day will drop in 2026, but as he has said before, don’t believe anything he says until you have the game in your hands.

2026 marks the 25th anniversary of Xbox and the 20th anniversary of the original Gears of War game. If E-Day doesn’t release in November 2026, this will be considered another missed opportunity by Xbox.

Until then, Gears fans can look forward to Gears of War: Reloaded dropping on August 26th for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Co-developed by The Coalition, Sumo Digital, and Disbelief, this remaster, priced at $39.99, features 4K resolution, a 60 FPS campaign, 120 FPS support for multiplayer, cross-progression, and cross-play between platforms.

I tried out the multiplayer beta last month when it arrived on consoles the weekend of June 13th and 20th, respectively. Team Deathmatch and King of the Hill were the two matchups in which I participated the most.

Even though I consider myself an experienced player and fan of this franchise, I got my ass noticeably kicked during these sessions. I will need to spend more time practicing and finding new ways to outmaneuver those annoying close-up shotgun kills.

Despite my pitiful stats, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game and am very excited to jump back in that single-player campaign goodness once again. Playing on PS5 felt natural, and finding and staying connected to matchups was easy. 

While hardcore Xbox fanboys are still upset to see this first-party IP debut on PlayStation, the overall move is great if it helps grow the fanbase and generates revenue to help fund the development of E-Day. 

The fact that this game is also being released this way tells me that, at least for now, Xbox fully intends to release E-Day on these platforms whenever it’s ready. Again, Xbox has had a bad track record of showing games before they are ready and cancelling them later, so we must take everything said and shown with a grain of salt.

With Xbox expected to return to Gamescom next month, all eyes will be on that show to see if we get a proper Gears E-Day update. Given all the mass layoffs and overall negative perception of the Xbox brand right now, one would expect them to have some positive news to share about their future. Hopefully, some of that news includes more details on Marcus and Dom’s highly awaited backstory.

Do you think Gears of War: E-Day will drop in 2026, or should we still be worried? Are you planning on getting Gears of War: Reloaded next month? Let us know your answers to these questions and more.