Microsoft Joins with Intel to Optimize Gears Tactics for PC
Summary
- Throughout the development of Gears Tactics, The Coalition worked with Intel and the Xe-LP architecture to optimize the game.
- Gears Tactics will look amazing on high-end PCs and runs perfectly on laptops and lower-spec machines to help bring the franchise to a broad new audience of PC gamers.
- Gears Tactics will be available with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta), Windows 10 PC, and Steam on April 28.
Soon, you can experience the next chapter of the acclaimed Gears of War series built from the ground up for PC. Combining deep, tactical turned-based gameplay and a powerful story of leadership and sacrifice, Gears Tactics will send you back to the front lines at the dawn of the Locust War.
In Gears Tactics, you’ll step into the boots of Gabe Diaz as he recruits, equips, and commands his squad on a desperate mission to hunt down the relentless and powerful leader of the Locust army: Ukkon. Against all odds and fighting for survival, you must outsmart the enemy in brutal, turn-based tactical combat in an immersive and character-driven story. Experience the intensity of one of the most-acclaimed gaming sagas in an exciting new way when it comes to Xbox Game Pass for PC, Windows 10 PC, and Steam on April 28.
While previous Gears games started with the console as a fixed reference point, the development teams at The Coalition and Splash Damage had to consider an incredibly wide range of processors for Gears Tactics. Not only did the game have to live up to series expectations as a graphics showcase, it had to seamlessly scale across thin and light notebooks, ultra-powerful desktops and device configurations yet-to-come, including those featuring the Xe graphics architecture debuting this year.
Throughout the development of Gears Tactics, The Coalition worked with Intel and the Xe-LP architecture to optimize the game. New to Gears on PC is support for Variable Rate Shading (VRS). Async Compute capabilities have been improved, and content has been built to scale across a wide range of devices. VRS, a relatively new technique, reduces the pixel complexity of a scene to effectively give Gears Tactics a performance boost without sacrificing visual fidelity. Async Compute allows for certain graphics workloads to be run in parallel, allowing the game to perform more back-end graphics processes to keep your session running smooth. And with new Intel hardware compatibility, that translates to fantastic performance across the upcoming Intel Xe architecture.
In short, Gears Tactics will look amazing on high-end PCs and runs perfectly on laptops and lower-spec machines to help bring the franchise to a broad new audience of PC gamers. You can see this represented across the official hardware spec requirements outlined below:
Gears Tactics will be available with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta), Windows 10 PC, and Steam on April 28, and with select Intel hardware bundles later this year. Pre-order customers and Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta) members who play before May 4 will receive the Thrashball Cole Character Pack which includes Augustus Cole as a recruit in addition to the Thrashball Armor Set complete with rare abilities.
For even more details on Gears Tactics, check out our recent hands-on preview here on Xbox Wire. And Gears fans will want to check out “Gears of War: Bloodlines,” the official prequel novel by New York Times bestselling author Jason Hough available on April 21.
Gears Tactics Pre-Order
Xbox Game Studios