The first stage of the Gears of War: E-Day open beta has hit a 24-hour peak of 14,331 concurrent players on Steam, according to SteamDB figures reported by Eurogamer. That is the highest concurrent count any Gears of War game has recorded on the platform.
The comparisons are narrow but one-sided. Gears Tactics peaked at 7,351 players around six years ago, Gears 5 at 10,196, and Gears of War: Reloaded at 4,819. Eurogamer expects the E-Day figure to climb further into the weekend.
Why the record needs context
Steam is not where the series has historically lived. The original trilogy and Gears of War 4 are absent from the storefront entirely, so they cannot appear in the comparison at all. Gears 5 was also sold through the Microsoft Store on PC and was playable through a Game Pass subscription at launch, which means its Steam peak understates how many people were playing it. Microsoft said at the time that Gears 5 was a record-breaking PC release for the company, roughly tripling the launch performance of Gears of War 4.
The current beta window is also restricted. This week is set aside for players who pre-ordered the game; the beta opens to everyone else next week at no cost, which removes the main barrier to entry and gives the count room to grow.
The beta itself was expanded shortly before it went live. PvP versus was added after fan requests, joining the horde mode already available to players in the test, so the concurrent count covers a wider slice of the multiplayer offering than the beta was originally set to carry.
The number is also an early reading rather than a settled one. Only the first stage of the beta has rolled out, and Eurogamer expects the count to climb as the weekend proper arrives and players get some reprieve from work. With the free, open week still ahead of it, the 14,331 peak reads as a floor for what the test ends up recording on Steam rather than a ceiling.
Join the conversation — sign in to comment.
Sign in
