Gears of War 4 will have split-screen co-op for PC

What's more, Gears of War 4 for PC will support LAN games too.

Gears of War 4 will have split-screen co-op for PC

Love it or hate it, you can't deny Gears of War is a fantastic addition to the couch co-op scene. In an era where most Triple-A multiplayer games assume local play is an afterthought at best, Gears has generally catered heavily to split-screen gamers. The only exception has been Gears of War PC releases, but no longer - technical director Mike Rayner finally confirmed the latest sequel will fully support split-screen co-op for PC.

"From a development standpoint, it is quite difficult to support," Rayner told PC Gamer, explaining why most studios avoid it. "We have to deal with multiple inputs, we have to deal with focus, we have to deal with UI placement ... developers have got to put some effort into it to do it right, it’s not just something you can tack on."

Despite these difficulties, Rayner said bringing local co-op to the PC version was a "labor of love", reinforced after vocal feedback on the Gears of War Ultimate Edition last March. What's more, Gears of War 4 for PC will also include LAN support for gamers hoping to play on home networks. These features are applied to Campaign, Horde, and Multiplayer modes, on top of the cross-play support Microsoft confirmed for Windows 10 and Xbox One systems.

Gears of War 4 launches for Windows 10 and Xbox One on October 11, 2016.