Microsoft Enables Multiplayer Cross-Play for Gears of War 4.

Microsoft announced today that it is enabling Gears of War 4 multiplayer cross-play between Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs.

Microsoft is enabling this functionality after a successful test late last year, but it is basically testing it publicly in to ensure that everyone has a good experience. Regardless, it works only in the Social Quickplay playlists in the Versus multiplayer mode. (From the main menu, Versus then Social Quickplay.) I assume these are the unranked game types.

(Gears of War 4 does support other cross-play modes, such as co-op.)

For the next few months, Microsoft will consider this cross-play ability a trial period during which it will monitor player feedback an in-game data to ensure that everything works as expected. If it does, this functionality will become permanent.

Other multiplayer modes, like the Core and Competitive modes found under Matchmaking, which are ranked, will remain platform independent, Microsoft says. (Meaning Xbox One players can only play with other Xbox One players, and Windows 10 players can only play with other Windows 10 players.)

“We always want to ensure our Ranked experiences are as closely matched and competitive as possible,” Microsoft’s Liam Ashleyexplains. “Due to the major popularity of Social Quickplay on Windows 10, we will be looking at introducing new Core and Competitive solutions for Windows 10 players in the future to provide more focused offerings to experience the more competitive ranked play of Gears of War 4.”

Interesting. I wonder if gamers are called out in any way so you can see who is on a different platform.