The Coalition’s Rod Fergusson passed by our booth this afternoon to talk about Gears of War 4, and during our interview with him, he spoke some more about some features of Horde mode.

One feature Fergusson mentioned was the fact that not all players need to own a particular map in order to enjoy it. In Gears of War 4, only the host will need to own a particular map in order to it to be played. That means players will be able to join a match with their friends, or other players, and enjoy a particular Horde map without having to actually own. This allows them to check out a particular map, possibly fall in love with it, and then decide whether or not they want to purchase it for themselves in order to continue enjoying.

In previous Gears of War games, all players would need to own Horde maps in order to play them. This would cause a divide in the Gears community as those who haven’t purchased a particular DLC pack would only be able to play Horde maps that came shipped with the game.