Microsoft is still sending freeGears of War: Reloadedpromo codes as of late June 2025. Eligible fans who haven’t yet received their complimentary copy ofGears of War: Reloadedthus shouldn’t be concerned that the company forgot about them—at least not yet.
Thesecond remaster of the originalGears of Wargame was officially announcedin early May 2025. At the time, Microsoft said that the owners of the first remaster—Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, first released in August 2015—would receiveGoW: Reloadedfree of charge. The company hence pledged to proactively distribute the upcoming game’s promo codes to all eligible users, without them having to do anything. Based on prior social media reports from fans, the codes started arriving via Xbox messages around June 11.
Nearly three weeks later, the rollout is still ongoing. This was recently reported by Reddit user Ceiyne, who claimed they had only received theirGears of War: Reloadedpromo code on June 27. After sharing the experience on the r/xbox subreddit, the post sparked a discussion in which several other users reported similar delays, stating they had also only received theirXbox Storecodes within the past few days, at a point where they already thought Microsoft forgot about them. Several people chiming in on the matter have claimed they are still waiting to receive their complimentary remaster, despite supposedly being eligible for the free upgrade.
Why Gears of War: Reloaded’s Slow Promo Code Rollout Is Somewhat Unusual
The prolonged nature of theGears of War: Reloadedpromo code rolloutis somewhat unusual at first glance. Unlike the vast majority of publishers, Microsoft operates its own gaming platform. It also hosts it completely in-house, thus owning the entire delivery pipeline and all the data required for verifying ownership. Therefore, on the surface, there seems to be little reason for such delays, as Microsoft—in theory—should be able to generate and distribute promo codes to all eligibleGears of War: Ultimate Editionowners at once.
The reason this isn’t happening may be related to the ownership verification process. While the initial announcement implied that only owners of the Xbox One version ofGears of War: Ultimate Editionwould be eligible for the free upgrade, some online reports indicate that PC players began receiving promo codes as of mid-June 2025 as well. Although it’s also possible that Microsoft is issuing codes in batches to reduce backend strain, that explanation seems less likely, given the company’s vast infrastructure and the relatively limited number of eligible users that’s believed to be in the low millions.
Gears of War: Reloadedis scheduled for release on August 26. Anyone who hasn’t received their complimentary copy of the game by then but believes they are eligible to do so can inquire about the status of their promo code with Xbox customer support. Microsoft has so far heldtwoGears of War: Reloadedbetas, but has yet to clarify whether any more are planned.
