Gears 5 pre-download is now available on Xbox One and PC for those of you pre-ordered the game’s Ultimate Edition, as well as all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Early access will kick off at 9pm on Thursday, September 5th in your regional local time, which is a day earlier than what developer The Coalition initially announced.
For the first time in the history of the series, Gears 5 will also be available on Steam with support for cross play with the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions of the game. The game will also support 3 player local coop on Xbox One and PC, which represents another breakthrough for developer The Coalition.
In addition to the traditional Campaign, Horde and Versus multiplayer modes, Gears 5 will also introduce a new Escape coop mode where three players have limited time to escape a hive. At launch, there will be 7 multiplayer maps, as well as 4 Hives for the new Escape coop mode. The game will also include five maps from Gears of War 4, but those will only be available for Private Play.
“Gears 5 will have the biggest and most extensive post-launch support in Gears history,” The Coalition said in a blog post detailing the game’s Launch Maps. In this “game as a service” era, Microsoft and other big game developers has no choice but supporting their games with new content for a couple of years to keep players engaged. As the first big Microsoft game to launch on Steam on day one, and the first Gears of War Game to be available on Xbox Game Pass on launch day, we hope that Gears 5 will be able to reach a much bigger audience than its predecessor.
