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Gears of War: E-Day Will Launch Without Private Matches, but Their Return Is Uncertain

The Coalition says some legacy features could come to E-Day after launch or be revisited in a future Gears game.

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An armored soldier stands in a red-lit street facing a large creature amid damaged cars in Gears of War: E-Day.

Gears of War: E-Day will begin early access on October 1 without private matches, Meat Shields, Chainsaw Duels, and select weapons from earlier entries. The full launch is scheduled for October 6, but The Coalition has not given these features a return date.

The game was built from the ground up, which The Coalition said allowed it to make changes to cover, combat, and enemies. The trade-off was that the team could not bring every feature from the series’ history into E-Day. In a blog post ahead of early access, the studio said those features were “not gone from the franchise.”

The Coalition is considering which fan-favorite features to deliver or improve after launch and which might be part of its next title. It has not promised that every missing feature will return to E-Day, so private matches and the other omissions could remain out of the game.

Season 1 is scheduled to run through December 1, but the studio has not tied any of these features to a particular update or date.

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