Gears of War: E-Day Beta Crosses 20,000 Concurrent Players on Steam

The ongoing multiplayer beta for Gears of War: E-Day has experienced strong performance metrics since opening to the wider public on August 10th. According to data from SteamDB, the title achieved an all-time peak of 22,084 concurrent players on Steam. This figure marks a significant milestone compared to previous entries in the franchise, such as Gears of War: Reloaded, which peaked at 4,819 concurrent players last year, Gears 5, which crossed 10,000 players, and Gears Tactics, which reached 7,351 players.

Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics provided additional context, estimating that the first day of the beta saw 1.2 million Xbox players across console and Windows. Elliot noted that nearly 90 percent of these beta players had previously experienced Gears 5, while 55 percent had played Gears of War: Reloaded, largely through Game Pass. Furthermore, Steam pre-orders for Gears of War: E-Day have reportedly doubled from around 50,000 to approximately 100,000 due to the beta's popularity. Engagement figures also show that 24.1 percent of players spent over 10 hours with the beta, 12.7 percent played for over 15 hours, and 6.5 percent exceeded 20 hours, averaging out to daily play sessions of four to five hours for 6.5 percent of participants.

Ahead of the beta launch, developer The Coalition acknowledged that the build contained known issues, warning players that performance and stability were still works-in-progress with potential frame rate drops and crashes. The full game is scheduled to launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S on October 6th. Serving as a prequel set fourteen years before the original game, Gears of War: E-Day follows Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago during the Locust invasion's Emergence Day, featuring PvP multiplayer and a reimagined Horde Siege mode.