The age-old debate of console versus PC is reaching new heights in Gears of War 4. The newest in the series released last October as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, but its Windows 10 fans have had quite a bit of difficulty finding more people to play with, particularly in competitive ranked matches. The Coalition hopes to fix that within the year.
Even though Gears of War 4 enabled crossplay between Xbox One and Windows 10 earlier this year for Quickplay, the developers wanted to emphasize that fair competition is something they strive for. Instead, when they bring crossplay to Ranked, it will be optional for Xbox One players.
Xbox One players will have the choice of playing with or without Windows 10 players in any Core or Competitive Playlist with this toggle – though Social, Competitive Warm Up and Special Events will always be Crossplay enabled regardless.
Working towards Ranked Crossplay between the two won’t start immediately. Instead, the Gears of War 4 most recent patch released for Windows 10 starts this path with a temporary shift all players to a specific playlist in the game. What this means is players on PC will be corraled to play together. Following up with another update in May, achievements will be adjusted for this change.
Once implemented, Xbox users will be able to toggle off playing with Windows 10 users. However, Windows 10 users will be able to play in any playlist and will not have an option to toggle it off. It seems to The Coalition that they have the advantage, shedding a developer perspective on the battle of PC versus console.
