According to Wccftech, Vancouver’s The Coalition, with help from People Can Fly, has been working on Gears of War: E-Day for nearly six years ahead of its planned 2026 launch. The game was announced in June 2024 and is described by the studio as its “most ambitious game yet,” built entirely from scratch in Unreal Engine 5. It’s a prequel origin story set 14 years before the first Gears game, focusing on Marcus and Dom’s first encounter with the Locust Horde on Emergence Day. This comes after the studio supported other projects like Gears Tactics and Halo Infinite, and released the PS5 remaster Gears of War: Reloaded this year. The studio made the claim in a year-end interview on the Xbox Wire blog, stating it’s the best place to jump into the franchise. Despite the recent PS5 release, E-Day is currently announced only for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Ambition or marketing?
Here’s the thing: calling something your “most ambitious game yet” is a pretty standard hype line in this industry. But it’s interesting because The Coalition itself admits E-Day will be more linear than Gears 5, which had those semi-open areas. So if it’s not about sheer scale or world size, what makes it so ambitious? Probably the technical leap. Building a game “entirely from scratch” in Unreal Engine 5 is a massive undertaking. We’re talking about new rendering, lighting, and asset pipelines that can fully leverage the new console hardware. That’s a ton of behind-the-scenes work that doesn’t necessarily translate to a bigger map. Maybe the ambition is in the visual fidelity and cinematic storytelling they’re aiming for with this iconic origin moment.
A necessary roots moment
Strategically, this back-to-basics approach makes a lot of sense. The Gears franchise, while still popular, isn’t the cultural juggernaut it was in the 360 era. After Gears 5 experimented with light open-world elements and a more fragmented story, returning to the linear, gritty, and character-driven core of the original trilogy is a smart play. It’s a clear signal to lapsed fans: “This is the Gears you remember.” Focusing on the bond between Marcus and Dom during the chaotic, terrifying first hours of the Locust war is a strong narrative hook. In a market saturated with live-service games and massive open worlds, a polished, story-focused AAA linear shooter could actually feel… refreshing.
The platform question lingers
Now, the elephant in the room is the platform strategy. They just put Gears of War: Reloaded on PlayStation 5. That was a huge, surprising move. But E-Day is, for now, strictly PC and Xbox. That tells me Reloaded was a test—a way to gauge interest and maybe generate some goodwill on a new platform with a remaster. E-Day, as the flagship next-gen exclusive, is still being used to drive the Xbox ecosystem. Will that change by 2026? It’s possible. The gaming landscape is shifting fast, and Microsoft has shown a willingness to put its games elsewhere when it suits them. But for now, they’re holding their biggest franchise card close to the chest. It’s their most ambitious play for a reason.
