Here's When Gears of War 4 Beta Codes Are Going Out and How You Can Play Early

With the Gears of War 4 multiplayer beta scheduled to begin next week on Xbox One, developer The Coalition has now explained exactly how and when codes will be distributed.

As announced previously, people who played Gears of War Ultimate Edition on Xbox One or PC by April 11 will get in first through an "early access" period that runs April 18-24.

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Codes will be sent out in chronological order based on the date you first played the Ultimate Edition. If you bought the game and played online right at launch in August 2015, your code will likely show up on April 18, while people who got in at the last minute will have to wait the longest. All codes, which will be distributed through Xbox Live messages, should be sent out by April 21.

They aren't being released all at once because the studio is not certain the servers will hold up with a mass influx of users all at once.

"As you guys know, this is a real beta and not a marketing beta for us," The Coalition said in a blog post. "We need to test backend, gameplay, and more within this beta. Due to this, we are planning on releasing early access codes out in waves to ensure we can have a stable backend for players during the early access period."

The Coalition has also confirmed that people who play the Gears of War 4 beta will receive some kind of reward for participating. More details on what these are will be shared before this weekend; considering it's Thursday, this news should come tomorrow. There will also be a detailed FAQ going up tomorrow that will answer a "plenitude of questions," the developer said.

Finally, The Coalition announced it will hold a livestream event tomorrow, April 15, where it will play the game with some "special guests." Also during this event, the studio will hand out "tons of keys" that will allow users to play the beta on April 15, three days before the early access period begins. There will be additional opportunities to win keys throughout the weekend, details for which will be shared during the stream.

After the Gears of War 4 multiplayer beta early access period ends on April 24, all Xbox Live Gold users can play from April 25-May 1. Additionally, the game will be playable at PAX East at Microsoft's booth April 22-24.

For more on Gears of War 4, check out the stories below and the video above.

• Gears of War 4 Multiplayer Plays It Safe (For Now)
• Gears of War 4 Devs on Making Multiplayer Matter, Not Taking Story Too Seriously
• Gears of War 4 to Include Microtransactions