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11 Gears of War: E-Day supports cooperative play across the campaign and both multiplayer modes. The numbers differ by mode and by platform, and one restriction in particular catches people out: split-screen is console only.
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33 Player Counts
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55 ModeOnlineSplit-screenCampaign2 to 4 players2 players, console onlyHorde Siege4-player squads, 12 players per map across three squads2 players, console onlyVersus4v4, up to 8 players per match2 players, console onlyCombat Training4-player co-op2 players, console only
66 The split-screen figure comes from the official footnote, which states plainly that 2-player split-screen is available for console only. The storefront listing separately confirms up to 8 players in competitive multiplayer and 2 to 4 players in online co-op.
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88 Cross-Platform Play
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1010 Cross-platform multiplayer is supported. Playing on Steam does not require an Xbox or Microsoft account by itself, but sending a cross-platform squad invite does: you have to link an Xbox account first, through the Link Account button in the upper-left of the social pane on the main menu. Optional account linking also enables roaming saves so progress travels between platforms.
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1212 Playing the Campaign Together
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1414 RuleDetailPausingYou can pause solo by opening the menu. In co-op only the host can pause the game.DifficultyEach player picks their own difficulty independently, so a group with mixed experience does not have to settle on one setting.Save slotsUp to 5 separate campaign playthroughs or states can be saved, which is useful for running different groups or different difficulties in parallel.Playable charactersAll four members of Bravo Squad are available from the start, so a squad can fill every slot with a different character.Squad mechanicsDowned players can be revived by squadmates, and Drones that pin a downed player can be pulled off or shot from range.
1515 The campaign preview build showed the difficulty setting working per player rather than per session, so one member of a squad can run a harder tier than the rest without changing anyone else's experience. The individual components behind each tier, including player health, player damage and the number of lives, could also be adjusted on their own. None of this has been officially detailed. The tiers and the acts they apply across are on Campaign Acts and Chapters.
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17+One launch known issue affects co-op directly. A player who joins a lobby working through an existing save receives all of the earlier secondary objective and Hard Case progress in the War Journal, along with the matching Forge rewards. A separate issue affects long sessions: playing the whole campaign without reloading a checkpoint or restarting may cause memory problems, and the studio advises reloading a checkpoint if an encounter or objective becomes blocked. See Patch Notes.
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1719 Voice and Communication
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1921 Voice chat is standard across modes. Proximity chat is the exception: it lets you hear nearby players from the other squads and is available in Horde Siege only, which fits a mode where three squads share one map. Text chat, text-to-speech and speech-to-text are all configurable, and the ping system marks objects, enemies and locations for the squad even through walls. Those settings are listed on Settings and Controls and Accessibility Options.
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2123 Subscription Requirements
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2325 Online campaign co-op, Horde Siege, Versus and other multiplayer features require a Game Pass subscription that includes online multiplayer, sold separately. The official Open Beta FAQ states that at launch, multiplayer access will require a Game Pass Essential membership or higher. Platform and subscription detail is on Release and Platforms.
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2527 Design Intent
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2729 Co-op is not a bolt-on here. The studio's long-running internal mantra is Never Fight Alone, which began as a description of co-op play in an old design document and has since become the framing for the whole game. Concrete mechanics follow from it: enemies that tackle a player to the ground so a squadmate has to intervene, cross-squad revives in Horde Siege, and encounter design that lets a squad attack a position from three directions at once.