The Coalition have revealed the details of Gears of War 4‘s Early Access and open beta periods, both multiplayer.
The open beta will go live on April 25 until May 1, and will be available to qualifying Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Early Access will go live on April 18 to 24, and will be considerably harder to get into. Participants need to have purchased Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, either on Xbox One or Windows 10. Not everyone who owns Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will get Early Access. Microsoft will be handing out tokens so that people can get in, in several waves. Microsoft is also extending the time frame for players to qualify for Early Access. If you still haven’t launched your copy of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition even once, you should play the game at least once before April 11, 11 PM PDT.
The Coalition also took time out to share what they will be doing at PAX East in Boston. There will be a Gears of War 4 Versus multiplayer demo at the Xbox booth. There will also be a special Gears of War 4 panel, called Out of the Shadows: Inside Gears of War Multiplayer with The Coalition. It will be held on Sunday, April 24, 10:30 AM in the Albatross Theater. Finally, PAX East 2016 will be the setting for Gears eSports ESL Pro League Season 2 finals. The finals will be held on April 23, with a prize pool of as much as $ 60,000, partly raised thanks to fan purchases of Season 2 bundles. The ESL finals will also host the debut of a new competitive game mode in Gears of War 4.
Gears of War 4 will be released on Xbox One this holiday 2016. Microsoft has repeatedly hinted at a PC port, but have yet to officially confirm it. These hints have come from Xbox games marketing head Aaron Greenberg and The Coalition head Rod Fergusson. You can also read more about Gears of War 4’s story.