The Coalition has announced that as part of Gears 5's Operation 7 update dropping next week on May 18, players on Xbox consoles and PC will now be forced to play together to help with matchmaking times.
The studio says that it sees "40% of our players disabling the crossplay option", and the result has "significantly" impacted matchmaking. However, the team is confident the parity is now "almost identical" between Xbox and PC:
"With the field of view update coming in, the ability to plug a Mouse/Keyboard into your Xbox, plus the frame rate and input lag reduction on the new Xbox consoles we feel we are at a point where the parity between Xbox and PC is almost identical and confident enough in making this change going forward for Gears 5."
As you can imagine, this reveal hasn't gone down particularly well with a select portion of the Gears community, with fans highlighting that the 40% figure is high for a reason, although others don't seem too fussed by the change.
Elsewhere, Operation 7 will be adding plenty more new content when it arrives next week, including new characters (Hana Cole and Ukkon), a new PvP map called Ephyra along with three new Horde maps, and much, much more.
You can see a full breakdown of everything coming to Gears 5 Operation 7: Drop 1 at the Gears website.
What do you think about this decision? Give us your thoughts down in the comments below.
[source gears5.com]
Comments 18
I don't play but this sucks...everyone knows pc is where the no lifer virgins flock who need to cheat on computer games to either feel some form of false accomplishment or to take there anger out on humanity by ruining games for people
So what they are saying is the PC matchmaking is taking too long so are forcing console players to play against them.
If you complain, they say go buy a Series X, plug a keyboard and mouse in and go buy an OLED to play at 120FPS.
Thanks Coalition...
They block crossplay to avoid the prevalence of cheating on PC. I don't know how easily cheating is prevented in Gears on the PC, but it is a huge problem in other games such as Call of Duty and Rainbow 6 Siege. This has the potential to massively backfire for the Coalition, as there may well be some players that will simply give up on the game, rather than play with PC players...
343 nailed the crossplay approach for MCC (you can have controller only, keyboard + mouse only, any input device, console only, PC only, any platform), The Coalition taking away options with Gears 5 isn't the answer.
I play Gears 5. People are already GODS at this game. PC always has the top tier players with better systems and more devices to enhance your gameplay. Consoles have that with controller mods. I'll see what its like. Sad I can't run full time with my high school buddies in GOW anymore but that was 14 years ago
Don't get me wrong. I have a pretty nice PC.
But when you get to the point of saying "Oh hey, getting beat because of a superior input method? Go buy a mouse and keyboard."
Getting some flashbacks to "You guys all have phones, right?"
I own a console as because of my RSI to use a controller. Just like I use a controller for the majority of my PC gaming aside from anything competitive. So not being forced into playing mouse and keyboard is kind of ideal.
I guess instead of disabling crossplay, I can just not to multi-player at all. Wonder how that will help their search times.
That said, I keep seeing people posting about PC cheaters. These comments are either deliberately misleading or just ill informed. Cheating is pretty much non existent in AAA games. At this point I'm pretty sure I've ran into more cheaters on Xbox than anything else.
I'm not sure all people are wrong about cheating on the PC, @InterceptorAlpha...
This was a recent story from PC Gamer...
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/call-of-duty-warzone-has-banned-over-475000-cheaters-to-date/
@Fiendish-Beaver Might wanna reread that, as well as the cited article from Activision. That is total bans across -all-platforms.
Totally get that, but the vast, vast majority will be from PC players due to complexity of cheating on console, @InterceptorAlpha...
I've had a gaming rig for the past 9 years, and spent much time playing Overwatch, and I payed against many that were clearly using aimbots and wall hacks. I've also played the same game on the Xbox, and have never once doubted the actions of my fellow players. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when you lose a game (or just get killed, sometimes repeatedly) by a person that is clearly cheating.
It is extremely difficult to hack the architecture of a console, whereas it is exceptionally easy to do so on the PC. It is also very cheap to do so, and very easy to create multiple accounts on which to cheat (unlike a console, which, until recently, required a Gold account to play online) as online gaming on the PC is free.
This article covers the same story, but is from eurogamer:
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-04-14-activision-confirms-it-issues-hardware-bans-to-repeat-or-serial-call-of-duty-warzone-cheaters#:~:text=Activision%20has%20confirmed%20it%20does,if%20we%20issue%20hardware%20bans.
The last line of which reads:
"Warzone has a reputation for being a game afflicted by cheating - particularly on PC..."
I'm not anti-PC by any stretch, being a PC gamer myself. However, I totally accept that the real problem with cheating stems from that platform...
I play on PC sometimes and I don't like this decision. I've seen a fair share of hackers ruining games like Apex and Warzone for everybody, no one wants that on console!!
Also, when I play on a 60hz tv, I don't want to go against a 120hz gsync gamer who already has an advantage.
Keep them separated!
@Fiendish-Beaver Well the servers for Gears 5 Multiplayer are the same in both Windows 10 and Xbox, so in this case, they can do it, Same with Halo Infinite when it comes out. Microsoft's servers have become the most secured on the market due to the fact that they keep them updated to the latest when it comes of countering shenanigans (Hackers and Cheaters already have a bad time getting away with it)
@Kalvort Is more than likely that their going to also enforce 60fps in PvP in order to make it even
The matchmaking times are ridiculous, though. I gave up on Gears 5 because I have better things to do.
@Kalvort don't pay no mind. You're under 18, you won't be doing any time.
@VenomousAlbino
At first I thought it was a drunken nonsense reply. Then I googled it...
THEY'RE GONNA BASH IT UP BASH IT UP BASH IT UP HEEEEEEEEEEY
This is not good
Makes no difference to me. As far as cheating goes I PC game 80% of my time and don't run into cheaters very often. The last time was one person in RDR2 last weekend, and I can't remember the last time before that. It's very occasional and I play a LOT of games on the PC every week, most of them MP or online co op. I really question others that claim to see cheaters on the PC constantly.
As far as k/m advantage, my little brother is so good on the Xbox controller that he competes very well online against k/m players. He's predominantly a PC player but still prefers the controller on EVERYTHING multiplayer. I just don't feel that bad for console players. Either you are great with a controller, great with a k/m, or great at neither one. This is no one's fault, just something you need to deal with in MP. Since Xbox controller players will be playing against other Xbox players on k/m there is no reason to not include PC.
Of course you would tell console players to just hook up a keyboard and mouse to their consoles to even the odds ... because that's exactly what the majority of console gamers want and are absolutely used to.
And there is certainly no issue with the way these consoles are arranged inside living rooms and the like. Nor is a couch distinguishable from a desk chair. Not to mention certain tables ...
**cough**stuckinarut**cough**
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