Gears of War: E-Day has gone gold with final PC requirements, preload and unlock times

The launch build is finished

Gears of War: E-Day has gone gold. The Coalition has locked the build used for manufacturing and distribution. A day-one patch can still follow, but the milestone makes another delay before October 6 less likely.

Preload begins September 29 at 11am ET and 8am PT. Early access opens October 1 at the same time, while the general release unlocks October 6 at 11am ET and 8am PT. Xbox lists every milestone at 15:00 UTC, which is the safest reference outside the United States.

Final PC requirements start with a 115GB SSD

Xbox has published three configurations. Minimum targets 1080p and 60 FPS at Medium. Recommended moves to 1440p, High and at least 60 FPS. Ultra aims for 4K at 60 FPS or better. Every target uses DLSS, FSR, TSR or XeSS, so the numbers do not describe native-resolution rendering.

A 115GB SSD and a graphics card with hardware ray tracing are required. The game supports ray-traced reflections, shadows and global illumination, along with HDR, ultrawide displays and a built-in benchmark. If a drive already runs hot, our guide to NVMe SSD heatsinks explains what to measure before buying more cooling.

The chart does not include a no-upscaling target. Independent testing will still be needed to learn whether cards between tiers can preserve image quality or whether mandatory hardware ray tracing carries an unusual cost.

Which version unlocks on October 1

Up to five days of early access are included with the Premium Edition. The Standard Edition, Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass start October 6. E-Day launches on Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox PC app and Steam, with cloud access on supported plans.

Our September Game Pass wave-two guide covers the other arrivals and departures around it. A subscription does not remove the local download on PC or console, so preloading keeps those 115GB out of launch day.

E-Day takes place fourteen years before the first Gears of War and follows Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago at the beginning of the Locust invasion. The specifications are now final. Port quality and the real gap between the three performance targets remain open questions until reviewers can test the release build.