E-Day is Already Breaking Records

The Steam version of Gears of War: E-Day set a franchise-high peak player count of over 20,000 players within a day of its early access launch. Gears of War: E-Day is console exclusive on Xbox, but is also available on PC.

In short, Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel to the entire Gears series, as it portrays the catastrophic events of Emergence Day and the start of the Locust War. Along with a story campaign that can be played either solo or in co-op mode, the game also includes Horde Siege and Versus modes for players to try out. Although Gears of War: E-Day has a massive file size of over 120GB, players can save valuable storage space by only installing the portions of the game that they want to play right away.

Gears of War: E-Day Sets Franchise Steam Player Count Record

Though Gears of War: E-Day already received glowing reviews for it’s action-packed content spread, the game’s success could also be seen via its initial player count. Gears of War: E-Day achieved an all-time peak player count of 20,374 on Steam in the first day of advance access. E-Day also holds a very positive 81% rating on Steam, making it the highest-rated game from The Coalition on Valve’s platform. The only entry with a higher rating on Steam is Gears 5‘s Hivebusters expansion, which sits at 83% as of this writing.

Although the count has since been tapered down to over 14,000 players as of this writing, the current number is still higher than previous Gears of War franchise entries on Steam. For example, Gears 5 had an all-time peak player count of 10,196 in October 2019, which was set during the game’s release window. By comparison, 2025’s Gears of War: Reloaded only managed a peak Steam player count of 4,819. Given that Gears 5 is considered one of the best entries in the Gears of War franchise so far, the fact that E-Day has nearly double the player count already is a testament to how many users have opted into early access.

With the iron still hot, The Coalition also confirmed some post-launch plans for Gears of War: E-Day. The devs stated that the game’s first multiplayer season will last approximately eight weeks and will include thematic events, such as Halloween and Thanksgibbing. Additionally, Gears of War‘s 20th anniversary will be observed in both Season 1 and 2. E-Day’s second season, dubbed Legacy, will feature content that longtime fans may recognize. Additional balance tuning and bug fixes will be released via periodic patches.

Gears of War: E-Day‘s early access window is only available to players that purchased the Premium Edition or Collector’s Edition, meaning players who bought the Standard Edition have to wait until the game’s full launch on October 6. Given that E-Day will also be available on Xbox Game Pass as a day one title, it remains to be seen how many more players will jump in.

Systems

Released

October 6, 2026

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact

Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios

Source: SteamDB