The allure of microtransactions for many developers is hard to pass up. It’s an easy-in to revenue for little more than selling cosmetics or under-the-hood stat boosts to the player. Well, whether you like them or hate them, microtransactions will be a part of Gears of War 4‘s multiplayer component.

Speaking with VG 24/7, The Coalition’s lead multiplayer designer on Gears of War 4, Ryan Cleven, explained how the cash shop would work and what it would be used for in the upcoming third-person shooter for Windows 10 and Xbox One, saying…

“[Players] can get more cards by using real money to purchase the packs, but we don’t force anybody to do that. You can use in-game currency to buy the packs as well, but if you want you can get more cards by spending real money. That being said, you still have to level up the classes. You can’t buy your way to being the most powerful class – you still have to play the game to unlock the capabilities of each class.”

The card system works similar to the Req packs from Halo. Players will be able to choose between five different character classes, including a Soldier, Sniper, Scout, Heavy and an Engineer, and as the characters are used more often in the game, new skills and abilities will open up. There will be both permanent and consumable cards, similar to Warframe, so players can stack their character’s skills but can also use consumable cards for quick buffs and other abilities during a match.

While Cleven tries to defend that players can’t pay-to-win, we won’t know for sure what that landscape will look like until we see what kind of cards will be available in the cash shop, and how much thye’ll cost.

The microtransactions will be part of the new Horde 3.0 mode, where The Coalition has been talking up the new movable fortifications and towers. You’ll be able to pick up a digital copy of Gears of War 4 starting October 11th for both the Xbox One and Windows 10.