Gears 5 — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Xbox Games Showcase Followed by the Gears of War: E-Day Direct Airs June 7 | 2026-03-30 | You held the line, now get ready to lock in.Join us on June 7 at 10am PT at the Xbox Games Showcase for the Worldwide Reveal of Gears of War: E-Day, then stick around for the Gears of War: E-Day Direct immediately following the show for a deeper look into the brutality and horror of Emergence Day.Learn more here |
| Steam Deck Update | 2023-06-21 | Updates to provide access to Steam Deck |
| This Week in Gears - August 10 - 16 | 2021-08-10 | Hello everyone! Another This Week in Gears awaits us, our first since Operation 8! Versus Event: Vampiric FFA For this week, we'll be activating Vampiric FFA! This event is all about 14-player Free for All with one mutator active. Vampire: You only heal when dealing damage, this presents the opportunity to go on an absolute rampage if you keep winning your fights. Note: For this event, the Torque Bow spawns have been replaced by the Markza MK2. Vampiric FFA also has a medal group to complete: Complete 5 Matches – 4 Stars Get 50 Eliminations – 5 Stars Do 50000 Damage – 5 Stars Completion of this medal group will grant 3,000 Gear Coins Featured |
| This Week in Gears: Operation 8! | 2021-08-03 | Hello everyone! Operation 8 Drop 1 arrives tomorrow! If you want more details on this drop, you can find our Reveal News post here! Now, let's see what lies ahead! Versus Event: New Map Rumble To kick off Operation 8 – Drop 1 we are creating a special playlist that will allow you to play on our newly released maps, Tomb, Ephyra, and Ritual. You can expect to play Control and Capture the Flag, and these will be 5 v 5 matches! In addition to this, we'll be featuring the Markza MK2 as a special weapon swap in place of the Embar and Torque Bow, keep an eye out for it! Additionally, we have a special medal group for this event, details are below: |
| Operation 8: Drop 1 - Reveal | 2021-07-28 | Hello everyone! The time has come to talk about Operation 8! This post will cover everything you can expect to see when the operation goes live on Tuesday, August 3rd. Trailer Before you dive into the full post, check out the Operation 8 trailer! Characters Bernadette Mataki Sergeant Bernadette "Bernie" Mataki is a legendary sharpshooter who fought for the COG in the Pendulum and Locust Wars. With a caustic sense of humor and an unerring sense of aim, Bernie is a relentless force on the battlefield. Ketor Vrol A crusading zealot with a deep-seated hatred of humanity, Ketor Vrol is one of the first Locust and served Queen Myrrah alongside RAAM |
| This Week in Gears - Jul 20 - 26 | 2021-07-19 | Hello everyone! A new week, and with it comes another This Week in Gears! Versus Event: Freeze Dodgeball Our final event for Operation 7, lasting two weeks, Freeze Dodgeball is a variant of the classic Dodgeball game mode. All damage dealt will freeze, and each kill brings back a dead teammate. Respawns in this mode are extra fast. Medal NameDescriptionStarsStone Cold Killer Get 50 Eliminations in the Freeze Dodgeball Versus Event. 5 Freeze Deal 75,000 Damage in the Freeze Dodgeball Versus Event. 5 Best Served Cold Win 5 Matches in the Freeze Dodgeball Versus Event. 6 Shatter Them! Complete 10 Rounds in the Freeze Dodgeball Event. 4 Freeze Do |
| This Week in Gears - July 13 - 19 | 2021-07-12 | Hello everyone! Another This Week in Gears awaits! Versus Event: Torque Bow Tag Nothing fancy here… Torque Bow Tag returns for a special Versus event playlist! There are no mutators, no bots and this game mode is all down to your skill with a Torque Bow. Like the childhood game just with less touching (no melee) and a little more on the line…like instead of being "it" you blow up. Torque Bow Tag is a 5v5 TDM playlist where all players spawn with just a 5-shot Torque Bow. Nothing but regular tuning here so a kill is as simple as revving up and landing your shots. All weapons on the map have also been replaced to provide additional ammo. Charge |
| This Week in Gears - July 6 - 12 | 2021-07-05 | Hello everyone! It's time, once more for another This Week in Gears fresh off the back of Operation 7 – Drop 2! Versus Event: Mercy 1 v 1 A throwback to Gears 3, this Versus Event is all about you versus another player. Set on the 2 v 2 Mercy map, this throws you into the Mercy Church to try and secure the victory. Oh, and of course the Gears 3 filter is enabled for this. A special medal group is available to be completed during this, and you can find the full details on that below. Medal NameDescriptionStarsNo Mercy Complete 10 rounds 4 Got Another! Do 25,000 damage 5 Ain't So Tough Get 25 kills 5 That's gotta hurt Win 5 matches 6 Mercy 1v1 |
| Operation 7 Drop 2 - Reveal! | 2021-06-23 | Hello everyone! The time has come to talk about Operation 7 – Drop 2! This post will cover everything you can expect to see when the operation goes live on Tuesday, June 29. Trailer Before you dive into the full post, check out the Operation 7 – Drop 2 trailer! Characters Jasi Tak Jasi Tak is an expert pilot whose laid-back attitude belies a fearless spirit. When Colonel Hoffman requested Tak's help, he was eager to give his all to help Scorpio Squad in their fight against the Swarm. COG Commando (Sanguino & Akagi) The COG Commandos are elite special forces soldiers who went from fighting humans in the Pendulum Wars to fighting Locust after E |
| This Week in Gears – June 15 – 21 | 2021-06-15 | Hello everyone! It's time, once more for another This Week in Gears! Versus Event: Vampiric FFA Our run of mutator-based events resumes with a two-week special event which runs up all the way until the end of Operation 7 – Drop 1! This event is all about 14-player Free for All with two mutators active. Vampire: All damage provided heals you, this presents the opportunity to go on an absolute rampage if you keep winning your fights. Explosive Headshots: Should you happen to headshot an enemy, it'll cause an explosion taking out any enemies nearby. Vampiric FFA also provides a special weapon set on, the Island Glow Orange weapon set. The medals |
| This Week in Gears: 8th June - 15th | 2021-06-07 | Hello everyone! It's time for another This Week in Gears! Versus Event: Control SSG A new event in this Operation, this is all focused-on Control, with the following loadout in play. Shotgun, Snub, Grenades (SSG). We very much look forward to seeing how these matches go as we know that dedicated communities have run their own matches with these settings. This event will run for one week. Featured Hive: The Hive The hive, an epic journey. Weekly Store Dress Uniform Hoffman – 500 Iron Targeting Monitor Weapon Set – 850 Iron Melodramatic Expression – 300 Iron Niles Mark – 125 Iron Hoffman Banner – 100 Iron Feature Store Rainbow Dust Legacy Set – |
| This Week in Gears: May 24th - 31st | 2021-05-25 | Hello everyone! With Operation 7 well under way we're back with another This Week in Gears. Versus Event: Golden Gun with mutators! Golden Gun is a team-based event where you are given one gun, your Golden Gun, you can only blind fire it, should you hit an enemy you'll instantly kill them! Miss… and you'll have to deal with an extremely long reload time so make your shots count! This isn't your ordinary Golden Gun event we've added some fun mutators for you to use! Confetti Headshot – Score a headshot with your Golden Gun and you'll be rewarded with a confetti effect on the person you just killed. Gun Sounds – The Golden Gun will make "unique |
| This Week in Gears: Operation 7! | 2021-05-17 | Hello everyone! Operation 7 lands tomorrow! If you haven't already, check out our deep dive on Operation 7. Now, let us see what we will be playing. Versus Event: OSOK – Exploding Headshots Not just any OSOK event, with the latest updates allowing us to use mutators in PvP for OP7, we are bringing to you OSOK with exploding headshots and a Movie Poster filter. Feel like an action star in this event as you pop some heads! This event also has reinforcement spawns enabled, meaning you will be automatically respawning as close as possible to your teammates. Horde Event: Horde Frenzy on three new maps! To kick things off in Operation 7 for Horde, |
| Operation 7: Drop 1 - Reveal | 2021-05-12 | Hello everyone! The time has come to talk about Operation 7! This post will cover everything you can expect to see when the operation goes live on Tuesday, May 18. Trailer Before you dive into the full post, check out the Operation 7 trailer! Characters Hana Cole Holding advanced degrees in biochemistry, toxicology and chemistry, Hana Cole is a gifted scientist who takes an unconventional approach to solving problems. Joining Colonel Hoffman in his fight against the Swarm, Hana's technological innovations are the secret behind Scorpio Squad's ability to destroy enemy hives from within. Ukkon The monster who creates monsters, Locust scientist |
| The Coalition Moving to Next-Gen Development, Unreal Engine 5 | 2021-05-10 | At The Coalition, we pride ourselves on delivering the best possible Gears of War games and the best possible game performance using cutting-edge tools like Unreal Engine. We wanted to update our fans on both of those things. Thank you to all the fans out there who have been on this journey with us. During a worldwide pandemic and working from home, the team launched a first strategy title, Gears Tactics; re-launched Gears 5 and Tactics on Xbox Series X|S hardware with performance upgrades and features; revamped Gears 5 multiplayer with a ton of content and updates; and capped the year with the first mainline campaign expansion – Gears 5: Hiv |
| Operation 6 Drop 2 is live! | 2021-04-13 | Hello everyone, Operation 6 Drop 2 is now live! Operation 6 Drop 2 Jump into Gears 5 now and honor the heroes of Gears in the latest update. In case you missed last week's posts, we outlined the main changes and updates coming to Operation 6 Drop 2. Check them out below: Operation 6 Drop 2 – Reveal Operation 6 Drop 2 – TWIG Operation 7! While this is the last major update for Operation 6, we're well on the road to Operation 7. Look out for news on that Operation closer to the time! Get Going! The update is ready to download. Grab it, jump in, and experience Operation 6 Drop 2! |
| This Week in Gears - Operation 6 Drop 2! | 2021-04-12 | Hello everyone! It's time for our special drop 2 This Week in Gears! Versus Event: Execution 2.0 A new variant of the classic Execution game mode, Execution 2.0 adds an objective ring after 2 minutes to decrease stalemates. If a team captures the ring or eliminates the enemy team, they win the round! This Versus weekly event will run for two weeks and alongside a special medal group. Well done soldier! – Deal 25,000 damage in the Execution Versus Event Do as I say, and die! – Get 50 eliminations in the Execution Versus Event Onward and Upward! – Complete 15 rounds in the Execution Versus Event Now our time is done – Perform 10 Executions in t |
| Operation 6: Drop 2 - Reveal | 2021-04-07 | Hello everyone! The time has come to talk to you about the second drop in Operation 6. This post will cover everything you can expect to see when Drop 2 releases on Tuesday, April 13th. Trailer Before you dive into the full post below, watch our special Drop 2 trailer! OP6-D2 trailer! Characters Chairman Prescott Richard Prescott served as Chairman of the COG through most of the Locust War. Infamous for commanding wartime measures such as the Hammer of Dawn strikes – firing orbital weapons on the COG's own cities to try to stop the Locust advance – Prescott has made controversial choices to steer humanity from certain doom. Disciple Drone Loc |
| This week in Gears - April 6 - 12 | 2021-04-06 | Hello everyone! It's a very exciting week here at TC, so let's dive right in! Versus Event: Bunny Hunt Bunny Hunt continues this week! A reminder, as a variant of Guardian, you'll spawn in with Longshots and will have one objective, kill the enemy bunny leader! To celebrate this event, we have a special Medal group you can complete, which will grant you an appropriately themed Easter skin, the Rabid Grenadier. Big Bunny Energy – Get 5 kills as the Leader in the Bunny Hunt Versus Event Bunny Hunt Body Count – Get 50 Eliminations in the Bunny Hunt Versus Event Veteran Bunny Hunter – Complete 10 Rounds in the Bunny Hunt Versus Event The event co |
| This Week in Gears - March 30 - April 5 | 2021-03-29 | Hello everyone! New week, new this week in Gears, let's get going! Versus Event: Bunny Hunt With Easter being very close, we have a special Versus event for you, Bunny Hunt. A variant of Guardian, You'll spawn in with Longshots and will have one objective, kill the enemy bunny leader! To celebrate this event, we have a special Medal group you can complete, which will grant you an appropriately themed Easter skin, the Rabid Grenadier. Big Bunny Energy – Get 5 kills as the Leader in the Bunny Hunt Versus Event Bunny Hunt Body Count – Get 50 Eliminations in the Bunny Hunt Versus Event Veteran Bunny Hunter – Complete 10 Rounds in the Bunny Hunt V |