Gears Tactics, the upcoming turn-based strategy game set in the Gears of War universe, will not include any form of microtransactions. The game was announced back at E3 2018, and little else had been said about it up until a new gameplay trailer debuted at the 2019 Game Awards last week.
Judging by what was shown at The Game Awards, Gears Tactics will play a lot like the modern XCOM titles. The game is being developed by The Coalition, the studio responsible for Gears of War 4 and Gears 5. Both Gears 4 and 5 have involved extensive microtransactions of some kind, and have drawn controversy as a result. However, it sounds like The Coalition has been reconsidering this less-than-popular part of their games and is taking a different approach with Gears Tactics.
Rod Fergusson, studio head at The Coalition, recently confirmed on Twitter that Gears Tactics will not include any microtransactions whatsoever. In response to fans pressing him for details after The Game Awards, he emphasized that there won’t even be cosmetic microtransactions, stating that everything will be earned in-game. The game will still feature plenty of customization, but all of it will be unlocked by playing the campaign.
Fergusson also said in the tweet that Gears Tactics will be a single-player experience. The story will be a prequel to the original Gears of War, and the campaign is said to be around 40 hours long. Previous Gears games have had a host of single-player, co-op and multiplayer modes, making Gears Tactics the first title in the series to be exclusively single-player. The game is coming to Xbox One and PC on April 28, 2020 and will be a full $60, but will also be included as an Xbox Game Pass title.
Gears Tactics has been surprising for a number of reasons. While the aesthetic and themes of Gears of War certainly fit well into an XCOM-style strategy game, Gears has always been a fairly straightforward third-person shooter. It has also been courting a multiplayer audience for a long time, and Gears Tactics is taking a bit of a risk by going against both of these norms in the series. The game seems to have its heart in the right place with its lack of microtransactions and single-player focus, but its quality as a turn-based strategy game remains to be seen.
