Set on the fictional planet of Sera, the “Gears of War” series charts the story of humanity’s struggle against fearsome and brutal adversaries through a captivating tale of hope, comradery and survival.

After narrowly escaping an attack on their village, JD Fenix and his friends, Kait and Del, must rescue the ones they love and discover the source of a monstrous new enemy. “Gears of War 4” returns the franchise to the dark tone and intensity of the original and includes split-screen and online co-op, the next generation of five-player favorite, Horde Mode, 60 frames-per-second Versus multiplayer, and stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4.

Next week marks a huge milestone for the Gears of War franchise. On November 7th, it will have been 10 years since the original Gears of War released on store shelves.

Those ten years have included the release of five Gears of War titles, memorable character moments, emotional endings, and jumping 25 years into the future of Sera with Gears of War 4 to start a whole new saga. At the heart of it all, what truly makes Gears special is the fans– from the stories you share of finding love through Gears, the huge tattoos of your favorite characters, intricately crafted fan-art built from months of effort, to simply connecting with one another because of the game.

As a thank you to one of the best communities in gaming, The Coalition are announcing “10 Years of Gears”, a series of celebrations to mark this incredible milestone for Gears of War.

First seen in the Outsider community during the Gears of War 4 campaign, Gary Carmine is here and ready for action – if he can stay alive. Death runs strong in the Carmine family, and our Tenth Anniversary Gear Pack teaser pays tribute to the family tradition as Gary Carmine takes to the Versus battlefield. It’ll be up to you to save Carmine when you play as him this November!

Gary Carmine is part of a special Tenth Anniversary Gear Pack built for our fans. This special pack contains Gary Carmine, a trio of weapons themed to the previous Carmine brothers, commemorative anniversary weapons and emblems to collect as you play.

Obtainable exclusively through gameplay, each 200 Credit pack contains one 10 Years of Gears customization item, one 10 Years of Gears Emblem or bounty, and a random card from the Gears of War 4 Launch Series of Cards. The full list of content can be found below:

• Gary Carmine Character
• Anthony Carmine Longshot
• Benjamin Carmine Gnasher
• Clayton Carmine Lancer
• 10 Years of Gears Lancer
• 10 Years of Gears Hammerburst
• 10 Years of Gears Retro Lancer
• 10 Years of Gears Markza Mk. 1
• 10 Years of Gears Enforcer
• Gary Carmine Emblem
• 10 Years of Gears Emblem
• 5 Bounties, each themed to a Gears of War game

The Tenth Anniversary Gear Pack arrives in game on November 7th.

In-Game Events

While you collect all the content on offer next week, enjoy brand new ways to play with returning fan-favorite playlists:

• One Shot, One Kill, the ultimate fan-favorite special event with a new Gears of War 4 This sniping-focused mode spawns you only with a Longshot – but now the EMBAR is available for pickup on the battlefield to change the game. Now is the time to go for those collateral headshots!
• Gnashers-Only King Of The Hill returns to Gears of War, bringing with it a gib-filled carnage of objective-driven, close-quarters combat. Your trusty Gnasher is your only friend as you battle to control the hill.

Community Events and Competitions

On top of all the in-game action, we’ll have a bunch of community events, announcements and competitions throughout the “10 Years of Gears”.

We want to celebrate the “10 Years of Gears” by playing online with you – the fans! We’ll be running a Game with Developers event next week so fans and developers from The Coalition can play together. Details on how to join will be announced soon.

Also coming next week is the official launch of The Coalition Army. Thousands of amazing fans have already signed up to be part of the initiative, and we can’t wait to welcome more of you into the family. We’ll be delivering brand new content hand-built by the team, and providing a new way to access amazing resources like our 4K Cosplay Guides, Stream overlays and more.

We’ll also have a variety of competitions over the next month, including opportunities to win the ‘Bodied’ community weapon skin and a whole lot more. Whether you’re a creator, hardcore player or simply a fan, there’ll be a competition for you.

Updates to Gears of War 4

Following the recent release of Title Update 1 and announced details on future fixes to Gears of War 4, we will be launching a new update to our Gear Pack system later today ahead of our anniversary. This update is focused on providing a more consistent Credit earning experience, and more ways to build your collection of customization content as you play.

Following in the footsteps of the recent increase to the Credit earn rate in Horde, this update increases the Credit earn rate in Versus Multiplayer. We’ve also increased the amount of Credits received when losing to be much closer to winning, providing a more consistent income even if you’re having a rough night in Versus.

We’ve also heard your feedback on wanting more from the Bounty system. Following this update, Bounties will award significantly improved XP or Credits (depending on the Bounty) based on their difficulty, and have been rebalanced to offer achievable but challenging goals for each game mode. Bounties are now a really great way to level up faster, or build your collection of Credits.

As our final part of this update, we’re also revamping a number of our packs to provide more ways to acquire customization content. Whether you’re wanting to level up fast with Versus Boosters or building your Horde Skills with Horde Boosters, our new Gear Pack revamp allows you to build your collection of customization content through the Packs that suit your style.

• Versus Boosters now contain one guaranteed customization item and four Bounties. One Bounty has a chance to be a second customization item.
• Horde Boosters now contain one guaranteed customization item, four Horde Skills and a chance for a Horde Skill to be a Horde Bounty
• Operations Packs now contain two guaranteed customization items

Key Features:

• New Story, Heroes and a Nightmare Reborn: The first chapter of an all-new “Gears” saga thrusts players into an epic and perilous journey through the wilds of Sera. Fight as JD Fenix – son of the legendary hero Marcus Fenix – as he embarks on a desperate mission with his friends Kait and Del to find their missing loved ones and confront a fearsome new threat.
• Never Fight Alone: Rev up your Lancer and fight your way through the Campaign with a friend over Xbox Live or via local split screen co-op, with the option to play as JD, Kait or Del. Cross Play lets Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers play together in cooperative modes like Campaign, Horde and Co-Op Versus.
• Shared Progression and Achievements with Xbox Play Anywhere across Xbox One and Windows 10: Cloud saves enable you to switch seamlessly between both versions of game, giving you the freedom to play where you choose. Both versions are included with a single purchase.
• Fight through a Dynamic and Deadly Environment: Brace yourself against ferocious windflares that blow away cover, bend your shots and drastically alter the battlefield, forcing you to employ new tactics. As the windflare intensity increases, each enemy confrontation evolves into a brutal fight for survival in this tale of Man vs. Monster.
• New Arsenal of Weapons and Combat Tactics: Pummel your enemies from cover with new close-cover combat moves like yank, vault kick and a bloody new combat-knife execution. Make use of dangerous new weapons, like the Buzzkill and Dropshot, to shoot around and over cover, raining destruction from all angles.
•  The Best “Gears” Multiplayer Experience Yet: Whether you enjoy powering through the co-op Campaign, fending for survival in Horde mode or testing your skills in frenetic Versus Multiplayer matches running in 60 FPS on dedicated servers, “Gears of War 4” is the ultimate game to play with friends.
  • Explosive Versus Multiplayer Action: Compete in intense multiplayer gametypes that reward social, competitive and professional players alike, including new modes like Dodgeball and the premier new competitive “Gears” multiplayer mode, Escalation. Track your progress with the new visible ranking system that drives online matchmaking and lets you stand out for your abilities.  
  • The Next Generation of Horde: Team up with up to four other players and weather the onslaught using class-based skills and dynamic fortifications. For the first time, you can build and deploy defensive weapons and fortifications anywhere on the map.
  • Play with Friends Against AI Foes: Fine-tune your skills in Co-Op Versus, where your match-made team of five squares off against increasingly punishing AI teams.
• The Complete “Gears of War” Collection: For a limited time, “Gears of War 4” (both digital and retail versions) will include the entire Xbox 360 “Gears of War” collection. Play through the original “Gears of War” trilogy and “Gears of War: Judgment” on Xbox One via backwards compatibility, amounting to over 50 hours of “Gears of War” gameplay.