Xbox is bringing Gears of War to PS5 in August

One of Xbox’s flagship series is making its grand debut on PlayStation this summer.

Xbox has unveiled Gears of War: Reloaded, a remaster of 2006’s original Gears of War that will release on Xbox Series X/S, PC and PlayStation 5 on August 26. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass (including Xbox Cloud Gaming) on day one. The game follows a squad of troops led by Marcus Fenix as they take part in a last-ditch attempt to stop genocidal creatures known as the Locus.

Developed by longtime Vancouver-based Gears of War studio The Coalition, in partnership with Sumo Digital and Disbelief, Reloaded brings up to 4K/120fps support to the iconic Xbox 360 third-person shooter’s full suite of campaign and multiplayer modes. Cross-progression and cross-play will also be supported across all platforms, although a Microsoft account will be required for the former.

Notably, Xbox says those who own the 2015 remaster of the original Gears of War, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, can upgrade to Reloaded for free. A code for the new version will be sent to you via direct message on Xbox. Note that you must have already owned Ultimate Edition prior to today’s announcement; buying it now won’t count.

All in all, this is a pretty significant announcement. While Xbox has steadily been bringing several titles from its catalogue to PlayStation platforms, like Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Gears of War is arguably on another level. After all, the shooter series has long been held alongside Halo as a flagship of the Xbox ecosystem. On that note, it remains to be seen whether long-running rumours of Halo making the jump to PlayStation will also come to fruition.

In any event, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has repeatedly emphasized the importance of multi-platform releases, given the rising cost of game development and the lack of growth in the console market. To that point, the company also recently raised prices of consoles, accessories and select games.

For Gears of War, specifically, releasing a new version of the original game is also one big way to get more people introduced to the series, especially given The Coalition’s plans for it. Last year, the company unveiled Gears of War: E-Day, a highly-anticipated prequel to the original game that follows fan-favourite soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago as they fight to survive the titular harrowing event.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Xbox