Buy Gears of War Ultimate Edition for Xbox One, get all Xbox 360 Gears games too

An an interesting bit of pre-gamescom news, Microsoft has announced that for a limited time, those who purchase or pick up Gears of War Ultimate Edition for the Xbox One will also get access to the full library of Gears of War Xbox 360 releases, digitally. This is of course thanks to the Xbox One’s new-found, handy-dandy Xbox 360 backwards compatibility feature.

Apparently this bonus is only good for those who purchase and/or play Gears UE from August 25th through Dec. 31st, 2015, so keep that in mind.

Read on for the announcement below.

Today, on the eve of gamescom, Xbox and The Coalition are excited to announce that all fans who purchase Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, or the Xbox One Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Bundle, will be able to unlock the entire Gears collection via Xbox One Backward Compatibility. By playing Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on Xbox Live from Aug. 25 through Dec. 31, 2015, you?ll get access to Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3 and Gears of War: Judgment in Backward Compatibility when it launches this fall. In Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, you?ll get the complete remastering of the original game ? painstakingly reimagined from the ground up with stunning next-gen graphics, recaptured and rebuilt cinematics, new achievements and modernized gameplay for an even better experience. And don?t forget the new maps, modes and missions, early access to the Gears of War 4 multiplayer beta, new Achievements, improved haptic feedback and an additional difficulty level ? it?s a must-have for every Gears fan and part of the greatest games lineup in Xbox history.

All Gears of War titles will be supported on Backward Compatibility when it launches publicly this fall. This means if you own Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3 or Gears of War: Judgment on Xbox 360, you?ll be able to play them on your Xbox One and utilize some of your favorite next-gen features like Game DVR, Snap, screenshots and more. You can even keep all your previously-saved files, game add-ons, achievements and play with friends on Xbox Live no matter which Xbox console they?re on. For those of you in the Xbox One preview program who just can?t wait, the original Gears of War is available today in Backward Compatibility.

As we announced at E3, Xbox One Backward Compatibility is all about giving you the ability to play the games you love most from both generations in one place for free. And we know how much our fans love the Gears of War franchise ? tens of thousands of you have voted on Xbox Feedback for Gears titles to enable Backward Compatibility.

This is just the beginning of the news we have in store for this week, so stay tuned for more exciting announcements coming out of gamescom.