Microsoft and The Coalition have opted to take the Gears of War franchise back to its roots withGears of War: E-Day, a prequel that will follow beloved characters Marcus Fenix and Dominic (Dom) Santiago during their first fight against the invading Locust horde. This new mainline entry will feature everything fans have come to love about the series alongside fresh experiences only achievable on the newest hardware.
Of course, some players may be disappointed to hear that thisupcoming gameisn’tGears 6 —but there’s good news on that front. Fans eager to know what happened after the conclusion ofGears 5can rest easy knowing that the team isn’t abandoning that storyline.
“We’re super proud aboutGears 4andGears 5and the stories that were told,” Brand Director Nicole Fawcette toldXbox Wire. “We’re not retreating from that storyline in any way. But in [this] moment, we had an opportunity to write our next step, and this one just felt too good to miss.”
There’s clearly still a lot of story left to be told in the Gears of War universe. This game, alongsideFableandPerfect Darkare some of our most anticipatedupcoming Xbox Series X gamesthat we have scoured the net to find every bit of information about. Here’s everything we know aboutGears of War: E-Day.
Release speculation
The first trailer forGears of War: E-Daydidn’t share a release date, but it’s safe to assume we’ll hear more about this sometime next year. Holiday 2025 seems like a reasonable guess for a release window, but Microsoft has a tendency to announce some games with cinematic trailers extremely far ahead of their eventual launch, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see it pushed into 2026.
We also learned early in 2025 that The Coalition isn’t developingGears of War: E-Dayalone. People Can Fly, who previously worked on theGearsfranchise withGears of War: Judgmentand assisted on the original trilogy, will beco-developing the game. Guillaume Bary, Director at People Can Fly, stated, “Our team at People Can Fly, made up of dedicatedGears of Warfans, is pouring everything we have into creating an experience that will exceed expectations. While we can’t share more just yet, we’re eager for the day when we can show all the exciting things we’ve been working on.”
With this announcement, it appears thatGears of War: E-Dayis just getting into full production. If that’s the case, 2026 might be the more optimistic window for release.
Gears of War: E-Daywill launch on Xbox Series S|X and PC. There have been rumors of the series coming over to PlayStation 5, too — especially as more and more Xbox Game Studios games are making their way there — but there has been no official confirmation from either company, so we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath for that.
Microsoft announcedGears of War: E-Daywith its very first trailer during theXbox Games Showcase 2024. Though it doesn’t show any gameplay, it gives us a glimpse of the prequel’s stars — younger versions of series mainstays Marcus and Dom — as they fight off a Locust. It ends with them staring out over a fallen city filled with emergence holes, driving home the game’s focus on the shocking initial assault of the Locust horde.
We are so back. 🤜🤛
On today's 18th anniversary of Gears of War, we're proud to share that John DiMaggio and@RealCarlosFerroare reprising their roles as the iconic voices of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in Gears of War: E-Day.pic.twitter.com/x9uaH9R0sR
— Gears of War (@GearsofWar)August 16, 2025
Despite being set 14 years before the events of the first game, both John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro will be reprising their roles as Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, respectively, for the prequel.
Multiplayer
While the Gears of War franchise is well-known for its surprisingly emotional (and undoubtedly bloody) shooter campaigns, you can also always count on an equally intense multiplayer component. While neither Microsoft nor The Coalition have detailed much of anything about this so far, both co-op and competitive multiplayer has been confirmed for this exciting prequel entry.
