The disconnects, login failures and server outages that hit Gears of War: E-Day over its first weekend were caused by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the game's online services, developer The Coalition has confirmed.
The statement went out on the Gears of War community account on X. Rock Paper Shotgun places it at around 2AM BST on October 12th. "Earlier today, some players experienced intermittent disconnects, login issues, or other service disruptions in Gears of War: E-Day," the post read. "These issues were due to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting our online services."
The studio added that its teams "are continuing to monitor and mitigate this activity" and would share updates if anything significant changed.
A DDoS attack floods servers with junk traffic to knock them over, so the outages were someone's deliberate work rather than the load of a busy launch.
Trouble during the launch weekend
The timing was rough. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, E-Day launched on Tuesday, October 6th, so the attacks landed squarely on its first weekend on sale, the stretch when a new shooter is trying to build momentum.
Eurogamer reports that the login problems brought long waits and full server outages, and that they apparently left the game unplayable even for people who only wanted the campaign. The issues had been flagged a day before the DDoS explanation arrived. They were said to be fixed a few hours later, but Eurogamer notes that plenty of player replies disputed that.
The official Xbox account has since posted that "Service for Gears of War: E-Day is back to normal," thanking players for their patience and pointing them to a page for support updates, Eurogamer reports.
“These issues were due to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting our online services.”The Coalition
A strong reception otherwise
The outages sit alongside a largely warm critical response. Eurogamer's review gave E-Day four stars, describing it as a game of contrasts. "Though there's still plenty of waist-high cover, ebb-and-flow firefighting, and braindead machismo, Gears E-Day proves that looking back can, indeed, help you look forward, too," reviewer Dom Peppiatt wrote. Rock Paper Shotgun did not review the game, citing a crowded release schedule.
Gears of War: E-Day is out on PC, PS5 and Xbox, according to Gamebonk's release tracker.
E-Day is not the only big online game hit this way in 2026. Eurogamer points out that Arc Raiders and The Finals were targeted by what were described as "coordinated" DDoS attacks in January, with Final Fantasy 14 apparently facing similar attacks around the same time.
The Coalition is owned by Microsoft. Rock Paper Shotgun notes that the company is the subject of a BDS movement boycott over its reported ties to the Israeli military, and that Xbox is in the middle of mass layoffs that have closed some studios and put others under new management.
