There are plenty of players out there who would love to play Gears 5 early, but a select number of fans are getting early access to the latest game from The Coalition in a cheeky way. Some gamers are changing their Xbox One region to New Zealand so it counts as “tomorrow,” but this could be a pretty risky prospect according to The Coalition.
First, a bit of background: Gears 5 is not out yet. While a selection of streamers and personalities like Ninja have gotten their hands on the game in advance with Microsoft’s blessing, everyone else is going to have to wait. However, some ingenious gamers have found a way around the whole problem of waiting until tomorrow: They’re changing their Xbox One region to New Zealand.
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You see, there is this little thing called the International Date Line that determines where one day ends and the next begins. Most Western gamers are on one side, but New Zealand is on the other side, meaning it is technically “tomorrow’ for them as far as the Xbox One’s computer is concerned. These players are switching their region from their home country to New Zealand so that they can play Gears 5 early.
The Coalition, however, has warned that this trick might not be the best idea.
“Switching regions is not an officially supported activity,” said The Coalition’s community manager Liam “Octus” Ashley said on Twitter. “We’re seeing other people in similar situations who have done the same. Cheating the system is at your own risk. We’re looking into it regardless.”
Fans of the game on Reddit’s /r/xboxone subreddit, however, have a different perspective.
“It’s not cheating, it’s an option on the dashboard,” said one Redditor. “If you were not allowed to do it, the option would not be there.”
“This is just weird,” began another Redditor in the same thread. “So we pay for a game, they lock games based on regions…then act surprised that people want to play the campaign early.”
Is changing your region to play Gears 5 early a clever trick or is it cheating the system? We can’t say for sure either way, but The Coalition is nonetheless warning people that it might not be the best idea. If you want to get in early without potentially bending the rules, you could always pick up Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at a discount and get early access as a bonus.
Switching regions is not an officially supported activity. We're seeing other people in similar situations who have done the same. Cheating the system is at your own risk.
We're looking into it regardless.
— TC Community (@Community_Gears) September 5, 2019
