Gears of War: E-Day Beta Dates

The full beta schedule

Both weekends followed the same pattern: they opened on a Thursday at noon Pacific and closed on the Monday morning. The dates come from the official Open Beta FAQ on gearsofwar.com. Forbes, GamesRadar+ and Xbox's own channels reported the same schedule.

Start and end times in other time zones

The official times were given in Pacific Time, with the start also given as 19:00 UTC. Here is what that meant in a few common time zones, converted from those official times. All dates are in August 2026, when daylight saving time was in effect across North America and Europe.

Players in Asia and Oceania got access late on Thursday night or early on Friday, local time. The same 19:00 UTC start applied everywhere, because the beta opened globally at once. The Monday morning close also hit everyone at the same moment, so the beta ended mid-afternoon in Europe and late at night in parts of Asia.

Who qualified for Early Access

Early Access to the beta was open to players who had pre-ordered the game on Xbox Series X|S or Steam. It was also open to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members. Any edition counted, not just Premium.

Xbox Wire put the Open Beta in its first wave of Game Pass additions for August 2026, published on August 4. The announcement confirmed that Ultimate and PC Game Pass members could join from the August 6 Early Access weekend.

Beta access was also one of the official pre-order bonuses, alongside the Exfil Dom legendary skin and the Exfil weapon skin set. Our release date page lists the full pre-order package.

The Open Beta weekend

The second weekend required nothing at all. Anyone on Xbox Series X|S, Steam or the Xbox app on PC could download and play. This was the first chance for most players to try E-Day's multiplayer.

It also added a mode. Where the first weekend offered only Horde Siege, the Open Beta added 4v4 Versus PvP. That made it the most complete preview of launch multiplayer. Players who had already joined during Early Access simply kept playing, with their progress intact.

What the Early Access weekend offered

The first weekend was all about Horde Siege, the new 12-player PvE mode. Up to three squads of four share one map, working toward shared objectives and facing world bosses together. Players chose from four classes: Assault, Marksman, Medic and Breacher.

The official description called it an evolved take on the series' co-op wave-survival mode, built for larger maps, more players and bigger battles. For many players, that weekend was their first taste of E-Day's faster movement, with sprint, slide and jump replacing the old roadie run.

Rewards available across both weekends

Beta challenges could be completed on either weekend, and progress carried between them. That gave Early Access players a head start but still let Open Beta players earn everything. The rewards were cosmetic.

• An Epic character skin
• A Rare weapon skin set
• Banners, emblems and icons
• Titles

What the Open Beta weekend added

On August 13, Versus joined Horde Siege. Versus is 4v4 competitive multiplayer, and the modern movement — vaulting, sliding and jumping — changes how maps play compared with older Gears games. In the full game it has both ranked and social playlists.

With both modes available and no purchase required, the Open Beta was the broadest public test before launch. Critics' review copies later covered only the campaign, so beta impressions were the main early read on multiplayer. Our review roundup covers what reviewers said.

Platforms

The beta was available on Xbox Series X|S, Steam and PC via the Xbox app. Cross-platform party invites required a linked Xbox account. Playing on Steam did not require a Microsoft account.

PC players also got an early look at performance. The beta included a built-in benchmark tool, which hardware analysts used to test settings ahead of launch. Official minimum GPU drivers for the beta are listed on our crash fixes page.

Progress between weekends and into launch

If you played the first weekend, everything carried into the second: challenge and medal progress, rewards, class progression and player level. That rewarded early players without locking anyone out. Open Beta newcomers simply started fresh on August 13.

Moving to the full game was different. Beta-exclusive titles, medals and challenge rewards were kept, but class progression, player level and other medal progress were reset. Our beta recap covers the rewards in more detail.

What came next

About seven weeks separated the end of the beta from launch. If you missed the beta, the full multiplayer is now available, including on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. See our Game Pass page for which tiers include it.

Will there be another beta?

There has been no announcement of another beta, and with the full game out, one would serve little purpose. The quickest way to try E-Day now is through Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass. Otherwise, the Standard Edition is $69.99.

New to the multiplayer? Start with our Horde Siege tips, which come from players who put serious hours into the beta and launch.