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Rod Fergusson, head of Gears of War 4

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Speaking to The Game Informer Show (and reported by Gamespot ), Fergusson said, "any way that you can play Gears of War 4 you can play it split-screen."However, Gears 4's usual 60 frames per second multiplayer will take a hit - in split-screen. the game drops to 30 FPS. Campaign mode will run in 30 FPS as standard.The news follows another high-profile Xbox exclusive, Halo: 5 Guardians, dropping split-screen functionality altogether.“The decision to remove split-screen support from Halo 5: Guardians was one of the most difficult ones we’ve ever had to make as a studio," said 343 studio head, Josh Holmes at the time it was announced, but cited resulting technological drawbacks the team wouldn't accept.Fergusson indicated that he gets that line of thinking, but that it's not possible for a Gears game: "I understand it. It's a hard thing. It's not a free feature [...] Those are realistic development trade-offs you have to decide whether you want to support. But [co-op] defines us, we can never get rid of that." Gears of War 4 beta will kick off on April 18, and will run on an invite-only basis until May 1.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he runs at 30 frames per second. He has been banned from all British bowling alleys for his supernatural talent. Follow him on Twitter