Gears of War: E-Day Open Beta Details & FAQ
The Gears of War: E-Day Open Beta is your chance to get hands on with Gears of War: E-Day and provide essential feedback to help ensure the best Day One experience possible when the game launches on October 6.
- Early Access runs from August 6th – August 10th
- Open Beta access is available for all players from August 13th – August 17th
Open Beta Times & Content
Early Access to the Beta is available to players who have pre-ordered the game across XBOX Series X|S, Steam and/or Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass Members. It begins on August 6 at 12 pm PT and ends on August 10 at 10am PT.
The second weekend is open to all players on all eligible platforms, regardless of their pre-order status. The second weekend is scheduled to begin on August 13 at 12pm PT and end on August 17 at 10am PT.
Beta content will differ per weekend. Players in the Early Access period will experience the evolution of Gears’ iconic PVE mode – Horde Siege. For the Open Beta, we will go even harder and open up our refined 4v4 Versus for competitive play in addition to Horde Siege.
Beta content features only a subset of launch content. To see the difference between what’s available in the Beta and what’s available at launch see below.
Open Beta Exclusive Rewards
To thank you for playing the Open Beta, we’re giving you rewards! Might seem obvious, but you must play the Beta to obtain these. As you complete challenges, these rewards will unlock for use in the Open Beta and later be in your inventory at launch.
- Epic Blast Damage Mags Character Skin – Hit Player Level 20
- Rare Crush the Bug Weapon Skin Set – Extract from Horde Siege 8 Times on Infantry difficulty or higher.
- Crush the Bug Banner – Get 25 Headshots
- Crush the Bug Emblem – Perform 10 Revives
- Crush the Bug Icon – Perform 5 Prototype Lancer Chainsaw Executions
- Open Beta Medal & First in the Fight Title – Launch the Multiplayer Beta
Open Beta PC Specs
Playing on PC? Ensure you’re ready to go with our recommended BETA specs for PCs. Please note: These are not our launch specifications. We will update with final specifications ahead of the launch date.
How you download the Gears of War: E-Day Multiplayer Beta client depends on where you placed your pre-order:
- XBOX (Digital): By pre-ordering on XBOX or through the XBOX for PC App, starting today, the Beta client should automatically appear for download under “My Games and Apps” on Xbox or “My Library” in the PC App for you to download. If you don’t see it, try searching for “Gears Beta” in the Store.
- Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass Member: Early Access to the Open Beta is included as a part of your Game Pass Membership. Simply search for “Gears Beta” in Game Pass and download the client.
- XBOX (Physical & Collector’s Edition): If you pre-ordered a physical version of Gears of War: E-Day, you should have received an email from the retailer you purchased the game from. For the Collector’s Edition, regardless of whether you ordered on XBOX or Steam, a code should have been emailed to you.If you have not received a code, please check your spam folder. Still no code? We suggest you reach out to the XBOX Game Studios Shop Customer Service before reaching out to Gears Community for assistance [Link]. Once you receive a code, redeem at xbox.com/redeem.
- Steam (Digital): Starting today, the Beta client should be automatically added to your Steam Library as a part of your pre-order.
- All Platforms: the Beta client will be available for players to download across all platforms; no pre-order required. Simply search for the ”Gears Beta” on XBOX, the XBOX for PC App, or Steam and download accordingly.
Yes. On XBOX Series X|S consoles, you’ll need at least a Game Pass Essentials membership to play online.
No. An XBOX / Microsoft account is not required to play on Steam. However, if you want to send a cross-platform squad invite, you will need to link an XBOX account to do so.
From the main menu, open the social pane and look in the upper-left hand corner of your screen for a “Link Account” button. Select this option and follow the sign-in flow.
- The Beta Player Title and Beta Medal as well as any Beta Challenge rewards you unlock will be available for use at launch.
- However, your Class progression, Player Level and other Medal progress will not carry over to launch and will be reset.
Yes. Your challenge & Medal progress, rewards, Class progression and Player Level all carry over to the Open Weekend.
- Get in touch! Submit a ticket through our support site here: https://aka.ms/gearscontactsupport.
- Be sure to share as much detail as you can regarding your issue or feedback and include screenshots where possible
- NOTE: If your problem is captured in the Known Issues list below, there is no need to submit a ticket.
For the latest on BETA support, please follow @GearsofWar on X, Instagram, Facebook and Discord.
Please remember, the Beta is not a final product.
- Stability and Performance is still a work in progress, and you can expect crashes and performance dips.
- Accessibility features, particularly narrator, are still being debugged and refined.
- World issues such as cover issues, visual popping/streaming issues and out of bounds issues may be visible.
Please update to GeForce Game Ready Driver 610.74 before launching. The game will not launch on other NVIDIA drivers until updated.
- Stability and Performance is still a work in progress; you may experience performance dips and/or crashes.
- Accessibility features such as menu narration are still being refined, you may notice issues.
- World gameplay issues such as problems with cover, visual popping, streaming and out of bounds issues may be visible.
- Death camera and executions have known bugs and may result in jittering or unexpected camera angles.
