Xbox announced two Gears of War: E-Day Limited Edition Wireless Controllers on August 12, plus a matching 8BitDo dock. One is a finished retail pad you can pre-order today; the other is a Design Lab build that opens later. Both are more interesting than the usual reskin, and both land before the game.
The retail pad: an E-hole in your hands
The design brief was the E-holes that scar Sera on Emergence Day, and the execution is physical rather than printed. The face is 3D moulded and laser-etched cracked asphalt — actual raised relief in the plastic, with etched channels cut into it — splitting open around an erupting E-hole, red glowing cracks running out from the fissure and the Crimson Omen exposed beneath the surface.
That is the part worth pausing on. Most limited edition pads are hydro-dipped or surface-printed graphics on a flat shell. This one has topography.
The rest of the detailing keeps the black-and-red discipline:
- Blacked-out A, B and Y buttons with a transparent red X
- Matching red triggers and a transparent D-pad
- A dark silver metallic COG tag on the battery door, a nod to Never Fight Alone. Squad up.
- Textured grips
Underneath it is a standard Xbox Wireless Controller: up to 40 hours of battery, Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth, Share button, remappable inputs via the Xbox Accessories app, 3.5 mm jack, and compatibility across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10/11, Android, iOS and cloud.
Price and date: $89.99 / £84.99, pre-orders open now at Xbox.com, the Microsoft Store and participating retailers, shipping September 30. That is one day before Premium and Collector’s Edition early access on October 1, and a week before the general launch — so the hardware arrives before anything to play on it.
The Design Lab version: Luke Preece goes full metal
From September 30, Xbox Design Lab opens a second route. The exclusive top case comes from Luke Preece, the British illustrator behind E-Day’s logos and insignia, the Collector’s Edition SteelBook, and a long back catalogue of heavy metal album and band artwork — Metallica included, which ties neatly to the Metallica weapon skin set and the For Whom the Bell Tolls menu track in the game itself.
The artwork is a skull perched on crossed Chainsaw Lancers, ringed by more skulls and battle damage. From there it is the usual Design Lab menu: metallic triggers and D-pads, rubberised side and back grips, button styling, and personalised engraving. No fixed price has been given — Design Lab builds start above the standard $69.99 pad and climb with each option, so the $89.99 of the pre-made unit is not a reliable guide.
Which of the two you want comes down to a simple question: do you want the world of E-Day on your controller, or the aesthetic of Gears? The retail pad is a piece of Sera. The Design Lab shell is a tour poster.
The 8BitDo dock
Rounding out the set, 8BitDo has an officially licensed Ultimate Charging Dock for Xbox Controllers – Gears of War: E-Day at $39.99, shipping October 9 — three days after launch, and the only piece of the lineup that arrives late.
It carries the same cracked, battle-worn finish as the retail pad, uses magnetic alignment for drop-and-charge with no pins to line up, includes an 8BitDo rechargeable battery pack, and has overcharge and overheat protection. It works with any Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One wireless controller, so it is not locked to the limited edition.
Worth it?
$89.99 is now the standard tier for Xbox’s first-party limited pads, the same as the Doom: The Dark Ages and Forza Horizon 6 editions earlier this year, which is another way of saying it is $20 over a normal controller for cosmetics. The difference here is that the moulding and etching are real manufacturing rather than a decal, and E-Day’s iconography suits a controller better than most: the Omen is already a HUD element, so having it under your thumbs is closer to canon than kitsch.
Both controllers go on public display at the Xbox booth at gamescom 2026, where E-Day’s campaign makes its playable debut. That is where the next real news is coming from.
Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, day one on Game Pass Ultimate.
