Gears of War 4 will feature split-screen co-op for two players, with the second player choosing between Kate Diaz or Del Walker to play as throughout the campaign.

An unfortunate trend in the gaming industry these last few years has been the declining support of couch multiplayer. It seems like many developers have decided to opt out of local co-op and split-screen modes, in favor of entirely online multiplayer experiences. Some that have been anticipating Gears of War 4 may have feared the same for the co-op centric franchise, but luckily, it has now been confirmed that Gears of War 4 will support split-screen co-op.

Gears of War 4's co-op campaign will allow two players to play from start to finish either online or in split-screen. The first player will always be in control of Marcus Fenix's son JD, whereas the second player will be tasked with choosing whether or not they want to play as JD's childhood friend Del Walker or the Outsider Kait Diaz.

The three protagonists will stay together for most of the game, but there will be times, like in past Gears of War titles, when they split up. Because of this, the story will have small differences depending on if the second player chose to play as Kait, or if they chose to play as Del.

While it hasn't been explicitly stated, the game's A.I. will likely take control of the third playable character when not in use. One would think that The Coalition would opt to include three-player co-op to match the number of playable characters, but the studio has decided to limit co-op to two players in an effort to pay homage to the original Gears of War.

Gears of War 4: JD is Marcus Fenix's Son - Gears of War 4 cast concept art

At any rate, it's nice to see that Gears of War 4 will not be abandoning the franchise's tradition of split-screen co-op support. Some fans may have been worried that it would have turned its back on split-screen enthusiasts, especially after Halo 5 didn't have split-screen, so it's great that The Coalition is reassuring fans well before the game hits store shelves.

What isn't currently known at this point, however, is if the versus multiplayer component in Gears of War 4 will support split-screen or split-screen online. Past Gears of War titles have supported local multiplayer across the board, and it would be strange for Gears of War 4 not to do so as well. We will probably learn more about that whenever the game's multiplayer functionality is revealed.

This latest bit of info about Gears of War 4 joins the other updates we've recently received on the game, courtesy of Game Informer's cover story blowout. The magazine plans on revealing more about the game throughout the month so stay tuned for more Gears of War 4 story details, specifics on gameplay, weapons, and more.

Gears of War 4 will be available later this year, exclusively for Xbox One.

Source: GameSpot