Kicking off the franchise’s 20th anniversary celebrations, The Coalition brings back a classic Versus game mode to Gears of War: E-Day while also adding new rewards to earn. Gears of War: E-Day continues the legacy of the franchise that began 20 years ago by taking players back in time to the start of the original Locust conflict and putting players back in the boots of protagonist Marcus Fenix.
It’s been tougher than expected sledding for Gears of War: E-Day since it launched in October. The latest entry in this Xbox exclusive franchise takes players back to the beginning of the conflict, showcasing the moment when the Locust Hoard emerged and began its war against humanity. While Microsoft hasn’t commented officially on sales numbers, estimates have indicated an underwhelming performance so far, selling just over 400,000 copies between PC and Xbox since it launched, with roughly 1.7 million players accessing it through Xbox Game Pass. Regardless, The Coalition has big post-launch plans for E-Day, especially with a 20th anniversary celebration in store for the franchise.
Gears of War: E-Day Begins Anniversary Celebrations
With November finally here, The Coalition is kicking off anniversary celebrations for the Gears of War franchise. Starting today, Gears of War: E-Day players can start playing the Guardian game mode from Versus. For longtime fans, Guardian has been a Gears of War staple mode, assigning one player as the leader and tasking the others to protect them against the enemy team who also has their own leader. In an interesting twist, this version makes it so once the Leader is killed, enemy respawns are disabled. If the round timer expires, Leader locations are also revealed to help speed things up.
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Alongside Guardian, Gears of War: E-Day‘s Horde Seige adds a new limited-time mission called For The Queen where the Supply Caches are disabled across the map. Instead, players will need to rely solely on their initial loadout as well as what they can scavenge from defeated enemies.
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However, that’s not all for this Anniversary update. Players will notice special anniversary challenges that are now active for a limited time, tasking players with getting 20 Curb Stomp Executions, Winning 5 Guardian matches, Finishing For The Queen once on Commander difficulty or higher, Deploying 25 pieces of equipment (no grenades!) in Horde Siege, as well as getting 100 kills with any OG Gears weapon in Versus or Horde Siege. Naturally, there are new rewards tied to these challenges, such as a special 20th Anniversary weapon skin, poses, skins, and more. In fact, there’s even a free “Brothers to the End” pose available to grab in the store.
All in all, November should be the start of what will be a very busy end of 2026 for Gears of War: E-Day. Prior to launch, The Coalition revealed post-launch plans for Gears of War: E-Day, including a first look at Season 1 and a special 20 Years of Gears event, which is set to kick off in December along with Season 2. However, fans will want to keep an eye out for November 7, the actual anniversary date for the franchise as The Coalition teased a special gift for all players, though no details on what that will actually be. Either way, it appears that the anniversary celebrations are well under way, so fans should expect to see plenty more through November and December.
- Released
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October 6, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios
