On September 17, 2026, Mike Crump, Studio Head at The Coalition, wrote on Xbox Wire that Gears of War: E-Day had gone gold, meaning the game is finished and ready for release. The same post was the first to put a clock time on the launch, and it carried the launch PC specification chart.
Gone gold
Mike Crump, Studio Head, The Coalition
“Reaching gold is an important milestone for the studio. More importantly, it means we’re one step closer to players experiencing Emergence Day for themselves.”
Three dates, one time
Every date in the post carries the same hour: 8 AM Pacific, which is 10 AM Central.
- Pre-install opened September 29, 2026.
- Early access began October 1, 2026, for Premium Edition players. Xbox Wire’s phrase is “up to five days early.”
- Worldwide launch was October 6, 2026. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members could play from October 6.
The time was the new part. Until this post there was a launch date and no hour attached to it, so anyone counting down to launch, this site included, was aiming at midnight because nothing better had been published. 8 AM Pacific was the figure.
Early access was a Premium Edition feature. What Premium adds, and what it does not, is in every edition compared.
Where it plays
The post names Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Steam, Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Early access was tied to the Premium Edition. A Game Pass membership got the game from October 6. What “exclusive” means for this game is a separate question.
The time
Every date in the post is 8 AM Pacific.
The launch PC specs
Xbox Wire’s chart, as published. Three presets and one storage figure. Settings, upscalers and Steam Deck are on PC requirements and settings.
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics preset | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Performance target | 1080p 60 FPS, DLSS / FSR / TSR / XeSS | 1440p 60+ FPS, DLSS / FSR / TSR / XeSS | 4K 60+ FPS, DLSS / FSR / TSR / XeSS |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 / RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 6600 / RX 9060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 / RTX 3060 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT / RX 9060 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel i7-6850K / i5-10400 | AMD Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel i5-11600K | AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D / Intel i7-14700K |
| VRAM | 6 GB | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| RAM | 12 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| Storage | 115 GB (SSD required) | 115 GB (SSD required) | 115 GB (SSD required) |
Three notes travel with the chart. An SSD is required. A graphics card with hardware ray tracing is required, and cards without dedicated ray-tracing hardware are not supported. Actual performance varies with hardware, settings, what else is running, and which super-resolution technology is in use.
The 115 GB figure is the same on every preset, and it is a storage requirement. The post does not give it as a download size.
PC features
Beyond the presets, the chart lists four things:
- NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, AMD FSR 4 and Intel XeSS 3.0 (image upscaling).
- Hardware ray-traced reflections, shadows and global illumination.
- A built-in benchmark mode with advanced PC settings.
- HDR and ultrawide monitor support.
The ray-tracing line is a requirement and not an option. The chart’s own note says cards without dedicated ray-tracing hardware are not supported.
What was not published
Two figures people will look for are not in the post.
- A download size. The only storage number is 115 GB, given as space required on an SSD. Whether the download is smaller than that is not stated.
- An Xbox console file size. The chart is a PC chart. Nothing in the post gives an install size for Xbox Series X|S.
Where a figure is missing here, it is missing at the source. If a number turns up elsewhere for either, it did not come from the September 17 post.
Source: Xbox Wire’s gone gold post of September 17, 2026, by Mike Crump, Studio Head, The Coalition.