The Coalition has said the intermittent disconnects, login failures and other service disruptions that hit Gears of War: E-Day over the weekend were caused by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting the game's online services. The explanation was posted on the Gears of War community account on X after a string of updates about login problems, IGN and Eurogamer reported.
According to Eurogamer, the problems caused extended wait times and server outages, reportedly leaving the game unplayable even for players who only wanted to play the campaign. The issues were first raised the previous day and appeared to have been resolved a few hours later, although many player comments suggested problems remained.
Our teams are continuing to monitor and mitigate this activity. We'll provide updates if there are any significant changes. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
The official Xbox account later posted that service for the game was back to normal, and shared a link for tracking support updates on the issue. IGN reported that E-Day was up and running again.
Sales and studio context
The disruption comes after what IGN described as a soft start for the Xbox Series X|S and PC release. The outlet cited an estimate from Rhys Elliott, head of marketing analysis at Alinea Analytics, that E-Day sold around 230,000 copies in its first week. The figure is unofficial and is not based on data supplied by Microsoft; the estimate pointed to Game Pass as cannibalizing sales.
IGN noted that the game holds a "mostly positive" user review rating on Steam, and that online speculation about a motive for the attacks has circulated without any confirmed reason behind them. Eurogamer's own review of the game awarded it four stars.
The studio has also faced questions about its future. Eurogamer previously reported internal concern that layoffs could reach The Coalition after E-Day's release, amid Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's reset of Microsoft's gaming business, which IGN said has cut nearly 2,000 jobs this financial year. Earlier this month, the head of The Coalition responded to those reports by promising the next Gears game would not take as long to make, according to IGN.
Eurogamer noted that E-Day is not the first game hit this way in 2026: in January, Arc Raiders and The Finals were targeted by what were described as coordinated DDoS attacks, and Final Fantasy 14 appeared to face similar attacks around the same time.
