Gears of War: E-Day has gone gold, studio head Mike Crump confirmed on Xbox Wire on 17 September. That means the launch build is done, and The Coalition has published the pre-install schedule, the PC specs and the achievement list alongside it.
The dates, converted for Australia. Pre-install opens at 8am Pacific on 29 September, which is 1am AEST on Wednesday 30 September, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Steam, for both Game Pass members and pre-orders. Premium Edition owners start playing at 1am AEST on Friday 2 October. The worldwide launch is 8am Pacific on 6 October, so 1am Wednesday 7 October in Queensland, and 2am in the states that have gone onto daylight saving by then.
It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from launch day, though the early access window is for Premium buyers only. On the Australian Xbox Store the Standard Edition is $109.95, the Premium Edition is $159.95, and the upgrade from Standard to Premium is $50. Pre-ordering any edition before launch adds the Exfil Dom character skin and a matching weapon skin set. A Collector's Edition with a 15-inch Marcus and Dom statue ships 1 October through the Xbox Game Studios Shop and selected retailers.
E-Day is an origin story set 14 years before the first Gears of War, on the day the Locust first surface, with Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago as the leads. The campaign plays solo, in two-player split screen on console, or with up to four online. Horde Siege is the PvE mode, with four classes and several squads working shared objectives, and Versus is 4v4 with ranked and social playlists. The Coalition is targeting 4K and up to 60fps on Unreal Engine 5.
The full PC spec sheet went up as an image on the Wire post, so check that if you're on the edge. Xbox Wire didn't state a download size, so treat any file size you see reported as unconfirmed for now.