Microsoft has announced that the third installment in the Gears of War franchise, and the final entry in the current story arch, will be launched on September 20th in North America and Europe. The game will be launched in Japan on the 22nd of that same month.

A multiplayer beta for the game, which was announced in April last year, will be held during a currently unspecified period of time this summer. Recently, creative director Cliff Bleszinski stated that the multiplayer aspect of Gears of War 3 will be run by means of dedicated servers. This will counter issues that have plagued the earlier two installments in the franchise, where players hosting a multiplayer game would occasionally have a distinct advantage due to latency issues. In addition, Gears of War 3 will feature a set of new weaponry, enemies and characters, as well as a campaign that can be played cooperatively with up to four players.