Gears of War: E-Day is The Coalition's "most ambitious game yet," says studio head — and the upcoming Xbox sequel will be the "best place to jump into the Gears universe"

As 2025 closes, the teams at Xbox put out a message looking back over the first-party games that launched throughout the year, with some small tidbits about what's to come in 2026, including with the next Gears of War.

Speaking with Xbox Wire, The Coalition Studio head Mike Crump reflected on the launch of Gears of War: Reloaded, while also providing some comments on the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day.

"This is our most ambitious game yet, entirely built from scratch in Unreal Engine 5 to feel like Gears and play like new," Crump says. "This is a return to our roots as Marcus & Dom face the Locust for the first time ever. It’s the best place to jump into the Gears universe, and we can’t wait to share more next year."

While Gears of War: Reloaded brought a second remaster of the original game to Xbox, PC, and PlayStation back in August, Gears of War: E-Day will be the first new mainline game in the franchise since 2019's Gears 5.

Outside of the game's reveal trailer, nothing else has been shown so far, but Gears of War: E-Day is slated to launch at some point in 2026. The titular event, Emergence Day, is the outbreak of war between humanity and the Locust Horde.

Personally, I'm most curious about how Crump envisions this as the best place for new players to jump in. Obviously, as a prequel, there'll be some new backstory elements, but is there something else in store?

2026 will be a big year for Xbox Game Studios

Gears of War: E-Day is far from the only big Xbox title slated to launch next year. Alongside the new Gears of War game, teams across Xbox Game Studios are working on an array of games pencilled in for 2026.

That includes Halo Studios' Halo: Campaign Evolved, an expanded remake of the original game that is also bringing the franchise to PlayStation for the first time.

Playground Games has a double-feature on deck, with the collection of three U.K. studios working on the Japan-bound open world racer Forza Horizon 6, as well as the long-anticipated reboot of Fable, a role-playing game series that's been dormant for years.

That's in addition to updates and DLC planned for multiple games that launched in 2025, including Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds 2.

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