Gears of War: E-Day launches with a patch and says goodbye to the vomiting frog bug

Gears of War: E-Day launches worldwide starting October 6, and The Coalition hasn't waited for most of the community to boot it up before making a move. According to GameSpot, the game's first patch is already live. It focuses mainly on stability and performance across the campaign, multiplayer and Horde Siege, and builds on the issues reported by players in early access.

A shooter with competitive ambitions puts much of its future on the line in the first few weeks. Lobbies that hang and objectives that can't be completed are exactly the kind of problems that make a player quit the game and never come back. And along the way, the studio has given us the story of the day: one of the fixed bugs is named after the giant Locust frogs that spit stomach acid at you. Yes, really.

What you need to know

• The first patch for Gears of War: E-Day is already live, coinciding with the October 6 worldwide launch.
• It fixes the "Bilefrog-Kalona" error, a split-screen bug tied to system suspend and Quick Resume.
• It resolves the lobby limbo affecting Versus Social matches.
• It fixes an issue that could prevent certain Secure objectives from being completed in Siege Blitz.
• It also includes several fixes for Act 2 of the campaign.

The frog bug: what exactly was happening

The Coalition has decided to name its network errors after things from the Gears universe, and the most eye-catching one is Bilefrog-Kalona. The name comes from those huge underground frogs of the Locust Horde that show up throughout the game and try to take you out by vomiting acid on your position. A tribute as gross as it is recognizable to any fan of the series.

Behind the joke is a very specific bug. It only affected split-screen multiplayer: if the console or PC went into suspend mode, the second player was automatically disconnected from online services. When trying to get back into the match with Quick Resume, the error appeared and the session was gone. It's a very niche case, but it hits right at one of Gears' defining features: playing side by side on the same couch.

Multiplayer, Horde Siege and campaign: the rest of the fixes

Beyond the frog, the patch tackles problems that are far more noticeable day to day. In Versus Social matches, some players got stuck in a lobby that never progressed. In Siege Blitz, certain Secure objectives could fail to complete, which in practice ruins the match. In the campaign, the studio has fixed several annoying issues in Act 2.

Our take

Credit where it's due: The Coalition moved fast. Releasing a patch on global launch day, with bugs identified thanks to early access, shows the studio was listening. That said, we're not going to pretend we don't see the other side: if early access is what uncovers hanging lobbies and impossible-to-complete objectives, in practice it works like a beta that some people paid for. It's an industry trend we're not fond of, even if the outcome here was positive.

For serious players, the most important part isn't the frog, it's Versus Social and Siege Blitz. Casual queues are the entry point for a lot of people who end up taking the game seriously. If your first experience is staring at an endless lobby, you're unlikely to end up forming a team or practicing. An objective that can't be completed in an objective-based mode is flat-out unacceptable. Good that it's fixed; now we need to make sure it doesn't come back.

For content creators, the split-screen fix matters more than it might seem. Couch co-op and local matches with friends make for great streams, and losing your session because the console went to sleep is about as frustrating as it gets. As for giving bugs themed names, we think it's a nice touch, as long as it comes with clear explanations like this one. A funny code with no context doesn't help anyone.

What do you think?

Did you play the early access, or are you jumping into E-Day for the first time today? Have you run into the infamous frog, the Versus Social limbo or an impossible objective in Siege Blitz? And the big question: do you think paid early access has become a beta in disguise, or does it feel like a fair price for playing early? Let us know in the team chat or drop by our Discord to discuss it.