Gears of War 4 ten-hour free trial offer begins next week (Updated)

Gears of War 4 has been out for awhile now, and so the safe assumption is that if you haven't bought it by now, you're probably not going to—not without some incentive, anyway. Such as, perhaps, the opportunity to play it for up to ten hours during the free trial period that begins next week. 

From June 9 to June 15—or possibly longer, a point of confusion we'll get into below—a "limited time trial version" of Gears 4, with the first act of the single-player campaign plus full access to the Versus and Horde modes, will be available, offering up to ten hours of cumulative play time. Progression earned during the trial will carry over if you purchase the full game, and special bonuses for new players including "guaranteed characters, weapon skins and new Horde Skills" will be granted as well. 

Update: The announcement of the trial implies that while the free play period will run for the full week, the demo actually has to be downloaded over the June 9-11 weekend. However, a Microsoft rep confirmed that the trial version of Gears of War 4 will be downloadable during the entire trial period.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.