Gears of War: E-Day has one global unlock moment rather than a rolling regional rollout, and Xbox has now stated it plainly. The Coalition's prequel opens to every player on October 6, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. PT, which is 15:00 UTC.
That converts to 11:00 a.m. in US Eastern and 8:00 a.m. in US Pacific. Xbox says the launch is simultaneous worldwide, so the same clock applies on Xbox Series X|S, the Microsoft Store and Steam.
The same 15:00 UTC slot has anchored every stage of the rollout. Pre-install opened on September 29 at 8:00 a.m. PT, and early access followed on October 1 at the same minute.
Early access is already running
Xbox says early access went live worldwide on October 1, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. PT and 15:00 UTC. It is attached to the Premium Edition, which costs $99.99 against $69.99 for the Standard Edition.
The official Xbox listing describes the window as up to five days of early access. Standard buyers can move up by paying $30 for the Premium Upgrade.
Game Pass is the part worth reading twice. The game arrives day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on October 6, and that day-one promise sits alongside other recent Game Pass subscriber changes.
However, Xbox states that early access covers Premium Edition players and Game Pass subscribers who hold the Premium Upgrade. A plain subscription does not open the game before October 6. Cloud players can also reach it through the GeForce NOW October lineup.
Gears of War: E-Day PC system requirements
The hard gate is ray tracing. The Steam listing states that a hardware ray tracing capable GPU is required, and the Xbox chart adds that cards without dedicated ray tracing support are not supported at all.
| Specification | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit 22H2, build 19045.7291 | Windows 11 64-bit 25H2 or newer |
| Processor | Ryzen 5 2600X / Core i7-6850K / Core i5-10400 | Ryzen 5 5600 / Core i5-11600K |
| Graphics | RTX 5050 / RTX 2060 / RX 6600 / RX 9060 | RTX 5060 / RTX 3060 Ti / RX 6700 XT / RX 9060 XT |
| VRAM | 6 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory | 12 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Storage | 115 GB, SSD required | 115 GB, SSD required |
| Target | 1080p 60 fps, medium preset | 1440p 60 fps or better, high preset |
The VRAM figures and the resolution targets come from the Xbox specification chart. Steam supplies the operating system builds, DirectX 12 and the broadband requirement.
An SSD is mandatory on both tiers. Steam's additional notes say so outright, and the Xbox chart repeats it in a footnote, so a mechanical drive is not an option.
Both tiers ask for the same 115 GB of free space. That is awkward timing, given how far NVMe drive prices have climbed this year.
The Xbox chart adds a third tier Steam skips
Xbox publishes an ultra row that Steam does not carry. It calls for an RTX 5070 Ti or an RX 9070 XT, paired with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D or a Core i7-14700K. The chart pairs that with 12 GB of VRAM and 16 GB of system memory, aimed at 4K at 60 fps or better.
The two listings do not contradict each other on CPU, GPU, RAM or storage. The minimum and recommended rows match exactly, and the gap is only in what each page bothers to print.
The same chart lists DLSS 4.5, FSR 4 and XeSS 3.0 support, hardware ray traced reflections, shadows and global illumination, and a built-in benchmark mode with advanced PC settings. HDR and ultrawide support are listed too.
What the publisher has not published
There is no official countdown table broken out by region. Xbox prints one figure, 8:00 a.m. PT and 15:00 UTC, and the Eastern and Pacific times above are conversions of it rather than separate published numbers.
The Microsoft Store product page does not carry a system requirements section at all, so Steam and the Xbox chart are the only published sources for the specs. The official Gears site confirms both dates but gives no clock time.
The download size is also absent. Both storefronts quote 115 GB of required free space and nothing about the installer itself.
One more caveat sits on the Xbox post. An editor's note dated September 28 confirms the specification image was replaced, without saying what changed, and the earlier version is no longer public. Requirements can still shift before the October 6 unlock.
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