Gears of War 4 launches versus multiplayer cross-play between Xbox One and Windows 10

Gears of War 4 players on Xbox One and Windows 10 will now be able to take each other on in Versus Multiplayer. After testing the waters with a cross-play weekend last year, The Coalition has announced that cross-play between platforms will now be available permanently on the Social Quickplay playlist.

A big reason behind the push was that The Coalition saw that its cross-play test was, in large part, a success, with neither platform giving players a discernible advantage over the other. From Xbox Wire (opens in new tab):

When we looked at the extensive data we received thanks to the incredible participation from our community, there was a clear message – it works. And after reading the hundreds of pages of discussion and feedback from the cross-play Test Weekend, our fans said the same – it works.As such, beginning today, Social Quickplay will now be a Cross-play playlist! This step is planned to be a permanent move for the future of Social Quickplay, with the first few months being a 'trial period' in order to monitor player feedback alongside data to ensure the Test Weekend was representative.

Do note that this only applies to Social Quickplay. As it stands, Core and Competitive are still strictly platform independent. As noted by The Coalition, this is to ensure that ranked gameplay remains as competitive as possible. For quick social matches, however, the change should have a positive effect by increasing the number of players available on both platforms without heavily impacting actual gameplay.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl

15 Comments
  • Nice!
  • For those who may not be aware, this is great for what Microsoft is planning with project Scorpio. They are testing the performance across different hardware to remove framerate limitations for multiplayer games. This will allow Xbox One gamers to play with Scorpio gamers at different framerates!!
  • Frame rate itself shouldn't be an issue. It's never been a huge concern in the PC world in terms of fairness in multiplayer. If you are playing competitively and care a lot about winning you'll probably have decent hardware but some just play for fun of course.
  • or set everything to slow
  • I feel ashamed to say that I've bought this game but haven't played it once yet.
  • what gives?
  • I'm finishing GoW UE then I'll play this one...
  • I've played it a couple of times but only horde mode so far. Got it installed on both PC and Xbox One. I've just been busy with work and other projects lately
  • playing through gow 1 right now and want to fnish the first 4 before gears 4.  ur not alone.  i bought so many games int he holidays
  • I bought it on PC but could never find a match on multiplayer.. maybe this will help, at least to boost my XP up a bit..
  • I never have problems on XO so you are in luck.
  • So now is the chance for Mouse and Keyboard enthusiasts to put their money where their mouth is. Console vs PC gamers. Let the battles begin.
  • Agreed lol gears was built for the controller so I think xbo has the advantage. I'm tired of this mouse and keyboard is best for fps crap controller is way better.
  • Fantastic News! Probably won't sell the X1S. But will give selling that XBL card I got with it a thought.
  • Buy a digital gears of war 4 installed on xb1 and PC. You can Use Xbox 360 or xb1 controller to play on both. Here's the link, https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-on-windows/accessories/xbox-controll...