"Gears of War 4" players on Windows 10 and Xbox One can now battle against each other. Microsoft and developer The Coalition's new update introduced the cross-platform play in the third-person shooter game's Social Quickplay playlist.

Liam Ashley, The Coalition's community manager, announced that the Windows 10 vs. Xbox One cross-play is "planned to be a permanent move for the future of Social Quickplay." The first few months of its release will serve as the trial period so they can "monitor player feedback."

The game's Core and Competitive playlists, on the other hand, will not have the Windows 10 vs. Xbox One cross-play. This is because the developer wants the Ranked experiences to be "closely matched and competitive as possible."

"Gears of War 4" belongs to Microsoft's Xbox Play Anywhere program. This means that players who purchase either of the Windows 10 and Xbox One copies can access both versions.

A cross-platform multiplayer test involving more than 750,000 matches was already held in late 2016 for the game, Polygon reported. The Coalition was satisfied with the results so they decided to roll it out in the game. That test gained an average of 11.2 matches for Windows 10 players and 6.2 for Xbox One players. Over 115,000 Unique Participants joined.

During that test, more than 90 percent of all matches during the weekend were joined by both Xbox One and Windows 10 players. Their results (Average KD, Score and Kills per match) that were based on skill ratings came close to each other's. The Coalition also witnessed a higher average user count for social lobbies, and players finished 95 percent of all social matches they joined as opposed to the 90 percent rating obtained by Cross-play Weekend.

Some "Gears of War 4" players are currently experiencing technical issues. Perhaps the most prominent problem is the Bigelow error, which hinders players from connecting to the game's servers, according to Windowsreport.

One player claimed that the Bigelow error prevents him from playing online multiplayer. Others attempted to fix the error by uninstalling and reinstalling the game, calling tech support and using a different console - all to no avail. In some cases, the Bigelow error just disappears on its own.

A surefire fix for the Bigelow error is still non-existent. However, The Coalition said that they're investigating the problem and will update players when things become clearer.

What do you think of the Windows 10 vs. Xbox One cross-play? Are you experiencing the Bigelow error, too? Share your thoughts below!

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Topics Gears of War 4, Microsoft, Xbox One, Windows 10