A gore and explicit language filter has been applied to "Gears of War 4."
The functionality was confirmed by Ron Fergusson, head of the game's developer The Coalition, CNET reported. The filter was already seen in previous installments of the franchise.
In a video interview with Game Informer, Fergusson revealed the content that will be censored and shared what the studio went through to determine which swear words to cut out.
"Gore is important for obvious reasons and swearing too. I think the tricky part for us is, and it's been one of the funny things about the mature language flag, is that there's no standard, so we've had to set the bar," Fergusson explained, as quoted by CNET.
He continued, "There's no George Carlin seven words or whatever and there's no radio standard that changes or that we can look to and say 'Hey, from a video game perspective how do we go from whatever mature language to non-mature language.' There is no standard, so we've had to make the call."
The Coalition decided to remove the harder swear words instead of bleeping them out. One swear word that will be turned off is f*ck, but the sh*ts, b*tch, and g*dd*mm*ts will be kept.
Fergusson said the reason behind this move was to protect children that may be watching or in the same place as someone playing "Gears of War 4," CNET noted.
Beta & Split-Screen Confirmed
Fergusson said that the upcoming beta for "Gears of War 4" will be technical and is "basically an alpha build of our multiplayer," GameSpot reported. He noted that the developer aims to collect feedback from fans about the game's multiplayer, so final changes can still be provided to the ultimate product.
Fergusson also confirmed that "Gears of War 4" will showcase split-screen co-op, GameSpot further reported. For this, the frame rate will drop down to 30fps because of the game's complexity. The game's campaign runs at 1080p/30fps and multiplayer is shooting for 60fps. A resolution, however, hasn't been announced by the developer yet.
The co-op for "Gears of War 4" is limited to two players locally online, the news outlet noted. A PC version for the game is also likely.
Story & Release Date
"Gears of War 4" follows the story of Marcus Fenix's son accompanied by two characters. The game's story will occur over the span of 24 hours.
A release date hasn't been confirmed yet, but a multiplayer beta on Xbox One is set to begin on April 18. To be qualified for that date, users need to play "Gears of War Ultimate Edition" on Xbox One or PC by April 11, CNET noted.
