Gears of War E-Day
The Coalition
Gears of War: E-Day developer The Coalition is correctly reading the room when it comes to the sentiment of many gamers these days, particularly in the multiplayer space. In the wake of a multiplayer preview for E-Day that dropped today, The Coalition released a blog post talking about going “back to basics” of multiplayer content, put in rather blunt terms:
“Remember the good ol’ days when you bought a game and you could unlock all the customization items just by playing because you already bought the game? Us too! So, when it comes to growing your own collection of customization items in E-Day, we’ve taken a more old-school inspired approach.”
“Nearly every single item in Gears of War: E-Day can be earned by simply playing the game. That means no battle pass, no tour of duty, no gimmicks, no bullshit. Whether it’s a Legendary Character Skin, an Epic Weapon Skin Set or a Rare Pose, almost all of it can be earned through gameplay.”
The “almost” there has exceptions for Premium Edition content, periodic Charity Bundles and some collabs with other brands which won’t be free as part of how those deals work. But you “can’t bypass an achievement or challenge by opening your wallet” to get grinded-out cosmetics, it says.
Gears of War E-Day
The Coalition
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It’s welcome news for players who are used to essentially every kind of multiplayer shooter attempting to go the live service route. This even includes fellow Xbox franchise Halo, where Infinite has battle passes and a cash shop. For Gears, it’s probably even more significant than it might be with another game, given that this is a (rare) Xbox console exclusive, meaning millions will be playing it on Game Pass without box copy purchases. And how do many games make actual money on Game Pass? By selling microtransactions. So Gears is really making a statement here.
Gears of War: E-Day will not be here until October 6, but there is going to be an Early Access preorder multiplayer beta that runs from August 6-10 so players can preview the upcoming full release. An open beta will then take place from August 13-17.
E-Day is certainly an interesting moment for Xbox here. One of the first moves of the new Xbox administration was to declare the game a console exclusive, meaning it would not head to PlayStation, a stark reversal of course for the brand. Now, it’s shedding live-service ambitions the rest of the industry is chasing. That said, it also needs to perform well as the first new full-on Gears game since 2019, and you could consider it one of the biggest releases of this Xbox console generation. The Xbox situation is too dire at the moment for E-Day to turn around hardware and subscription and revenue challenges by itself, but simply put, Microsoft just needs to start with having good games. Hopefully E-Day is one. Check out the rest of the multiplayer features and news here.
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