PS5 just lost one of 2026's biggest games in major U-turn
PS5 owners might have been looking forward to playing this game in 2026, but it's been pulled at the last minute in a rare Xbox U-turn.
The second half of 2026 is looking absolutely stacked for brand new, big budget video games – but PS5 players have just lost out to one of the year’s most anticipated titles.
Sure, PS5 owners will be able to play the likes of GTA 6, Control Resonant and Marvel’s Wolverine by the time November rolls around, but one game they most certainly won’t be playing is Gears of War E-Day. That’s thanks to what’s seemingly a last-minute U-turn from Xbox in a bid to claw back a few exclusives for its console platform.
Gears of War E-Day was previously slated to come to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. In fact, the game was even rated on the Pan European Games Information (PEGI) website with the PS5 listed as a release platform.
However, Xbox has officially confirmed that the prequel chapter in the Gears series won’t be seeing the light of day on PlayStation - not now, and seemingly not ever.
This is a major strategy shift for Xbox, but one that we could kind of see coming. It had been the work of previous Xbox CEO and President duo, Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, to break down platform barriers and bring their games to all platforms.
Now, it seems like new blood Asha Sharma is keen to build the Xbox brand back up by doubling down on reasons for players to buy into their platform – and that starts with releasing games on their console and their console only. Announced at the Xbox Game Showcase last night, that counts for both Gears of War E-Day and 2027’s Clockwork Revolution, which also won’t be making the jump to PS5.
As the next Xbox, dubbed Project Helix, will be a PC-Console hybrid, gamers will still be able to play Gears of War E-Day on PC when it launches on October 6, 2026.
Gears of War E-Day is a prequel to the original 2006 game. It’s set on Emergence Day when the Locust Horde emerged and ravaged the world of Sera, with the plot following both Marcus and Dom in their fight for survival.
While E-Day won’t be coming to PlayStation, Xbox isn’t suddenly making all of its games console exclusive to Xbox. Titles like Forza Horizon 6 and Fable are still listed as arriving on PS5 – but given the last-minute U-turn with Gears, it’s not impossible that we could also see those games pulled from the blue console release calendar.
As for how this translates to both game and console sales, we’ll have to wait until October to find out.
Will you be buying an Xbox Series X|S to play Gears of War E-Day now it isn’t coming to PS5?
