Gears 5: What the Preload & Unlock Times Are

Gears 5, the big Xbox One exclusive of the fall season, is nearly here. Whether you’re buying the game digitally or downloading it for free with Game Pass, you’ll want to jump in as soon as possible. So that you can do so, here’s everything you need to know about what the preload and unlock times for Gears 5 are.

When You Can Preload Gears 5

Update: Preload is now live on all consoles.

The details on the preloading of Gears 5 are actually pretty unclear. If you log into your Xbox One console and head to the Game Pass tab, you’ll see a banner that says that you can preload now.

If you then follow the steps to do so, it’ll add the game to your library, but no files will actually download.

It seems likely that this is just a way to confirm that you want it to preload properly once it becomes available and the 57GB file will install at a later date.

We haven’t been able to test it ourselves yet, but it’s likely that you can’t preload fully if you bought the digital copy either. It’ll show as purchased but it won’t actually be downloaded.

We’ll be sure to update you here once the full download is available to both standard purchasers and Game Pass subscribers.

Unlock Times

Once you’ve preloaded Gears 5, you’ll want to know when you can actually jump in and play it. The time for the standard version hasn’t been revealed yet, but the early access one has.

If you are able to play early access with Game Pass, you will be able to start playing at 9pm in your local time zone on Sept. 5. That time of day will likely be the same for the day that the standard version releases.

If you’re in the US, that is 9pm ET, wherever you are. So it’d be 6pm PT.

That’s everything you need to know about what the preload and unlock times for Gears 5 are. For more tips and tricks on the game, be sure to search for Twinfinite. We will also have an extensive guides wiki once the game releases.