The Gears of War: E-Day open beta closed today at 10:00am PT (1:00pm ET). The Coalition ran two weekends of multiplayer on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Steam. October 6 is still the launch. This was the last public look at Horde Siege and the refined 4v4 Versus before the full game ships.
Early Access ran August 6 at 12:00pm PT through August 10 at 10:00am PT for pre-orders and for Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass. The open weekend started August 13 at 12:00pm PT and ended this morning. Weekend two did not need a pre-order. It did not need Game Pass either.
Horde Siege, Then 4v4
Beta content stayed the same both weekends, and it was only a slice of launch. Players got Horde Siege, the 12-player PvE evolution of classic Horde, plus refined 4v4 Versus. Larger maps. Bigger waves. The old Gears loop, stretched. Versus stayed the tighter room: Social and Ranked 4v4 on the maps The Coalition put in the client.
The story around it is the one Xbox has been selling since the reveal. Fourteen years before the original Gears of War, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago are home when the Locust Horde comes up through the floor. The beta never pretended to be that campaign. It was the multiplayer stress test.
What Carries to October 6
The Coalition paid people in cosmetics for showing up. Unlock them in the beta and they sit in your inventory at launch. Hit player level 20 and you get the Epic Blast Damage Mags character skin. Extract from Horde Siege eight times on Infantry or higher and you get the Rare Crush the Bug weapon skin set. Twenty-five headshots unlock the Crush the Bug banner. Ten revives unlock the emblem. Five Prototype Lancer chainsaw executions unlock the icon. Launch the multiplayer client and you walk away with the Open Beta medal and the First in the Fight title.
Class progression, player level, and the rest of the medal track reset. The skins and the title stay. That is the deal.
Weekend two also picked up the August 12 patch. Prototype Lancer base damage went up and perfect-reload damage came down. Hit detection in Horde Siege got a pass. Matchmaking in Social and Ranked Versus got another one. Stability, connection timeouts, and a chunk of the drone-snub error work landed too. The Coalition was still calling the build unfinished, which is the honest line on a beta that just closed.
October 6, Then Game Pass
Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Steam. Day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. At launch, online multiplayer will need Game Pass Essential or higher. The open weekend did not. That is the one change that will surprise people who just spent four days in a free client.
Official social is @GearsOfWar and @Xbox. The campaign, the rest of Horde Siege, and the rest of Versus are the October 6 problem. Today’s close just means the test is over.