Halo 5: Guardians Owners Must Download a Huge Day One Patch Before Playing

If you buy the game at retail, you’ll have to download a huge patch before you can play the game.

343 Industries' Josh Holmes has revealed today that gamers who purchase Halo 5: Guardians will have to download and install a 9gb patch before they are able to play the game.

It's common for studios to release "day one" patches to deliver updates to games before release, with content, optimization and bug fixes that were developed in the period between the game's gold mastering and becoming available in retail stores. However, it's uncommon for these patches to be that large, making Halo 5's 9gb patch something of an outlier as it includes online maps and multiplayer content.

@crazyherb9 The MP update (includes map content) is 9GB.

— Josh Holmes (@JoshingtonState) October 15, 2015

Owners of the disc version of Halo 5 must download the update before being able to play. Those who preloaded the game digitally won't have to worry about downloading the additional patch, as it's already a part of the game's 55gb preload.

Halo 5: Guardians comes out on October 27 for Xbox One.

While you wait for the game to preload, be sure to check out the full list of achievements you'll be able to unlock.