Get ready to be mercilessly chainsawed in half by randos rolling around the map like bowling balls, ‘cause the Gears of War: Reloaded multiplayer beta is this happening this weekend and next. It’ll be a nice dose of 2006 nostalgia hitting right in the middle of the summer showcase hangover, so given this, why isn’t Microsoft making the whole thing free for players across PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5?
Reloaded is a 4K remaster of the grizzly cover-based shooter originally released on Xbox 360. Making the occasion extra special is the fact that the cinematic sci-fi war epic is now coming for the first time to PlayStation. It would therefore seem like a no-brainer to make these two beta weekends free for anyone who wants to hop in and discover Gears of War’s unique (and sometimes toxic) flavor of online deathmatch for themselves. Instead, the beta will be exclusive to players who have already ponied up money.
Here’s what you need to do to qualify for Reloaded’s two-weekend, cross-platform, cross-play multiplayer beta running June 13-15 and June 20-22:
- Pre-order Gears of War: Reloaded digitally for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Steam or PlayStation 5
- Have an active Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass membership
- Own a digital copy of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Note that Xbox Series X/S players won’t just need to have an active Game Pass subscription to play, they’ll need to have the more expensive Game Pass Ultimate tier. On PS5, meanwhile, players will have to have pre-ordered the entire $40 remaster. The only ones really lucking out here are those on PC or Xbox who already own the previous Ultimate Edition remaster which nets them an upgrade to Reloaded, and access to the beta, for free.
It’s a shame the entire beta isn’t free for everyone across all platforms. It would act as an invitation back into the brutal but unique world of classic Gears multiplayer, where the slow movement, snappy dodge rolls, and OP shotguns are unlike anything else in the modern shooter landscape (and still has an active community in the original trilogy). It would also be a neat moment of multiplatform camaraderie as Microsoft pushes its new post-console war, play anywhere, everything is an Xbox-approach to gaming. Instead, it’s demanding a cover charge.
“Our jobs inside the company is to run a good business,” Microsoft Gaming CEO said on the Xbox podcast at Summer Game Fest last week. “We’re accountable to Microsoft for running a good business, a healthy business that continues to grow at both top line and bottom line.” It’s hard not to see a combination of small things like this, and big things like charging $80 for The Outer Worlds 2 (which Obsidian pointed out was Microsoft’s decision), as part of a renewed focus on that growth.
“That’s kind of a foundation for us,” Spencer continued. “And what that does is it allows us to continue to invest in Xbox for our community of players and creators and that we’re doing it. It does mean we have to make trade-offs through the year on things that we’re going to invest more in, things that we’re not going to invest as much in because it is kind of we are the business that we are, but the business is having really good success.” Good enough to eventually decide to make the second beta weekend free? We’ll see.
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