We reported last month that it would not be possible to play Halo: The Master Chief Collection in multiplayer mode right after you get your mitts on it. 343 Industries, the developer, confirmed that a day one patch would need to be downloaded before the multiplayer features can be accessed. At that time it was revealed that this patch would weigh in at 20GB. There’s good news for folks who have been waiting for this game. The patch is now down to 15GB.
343 Industries has already explained why such a big day one patch is required. Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes the first four Halo titles, Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta and access to the Halo: Nightfall TV series. Since all of this content is too much to put on a single 45GB Blu-ray disc the multiplayer features had to be moved to a patch.
The title will be opened up for play starting November 11th. Players will be able to go through each Halo title’s campaign mode while the patch downloads in the background, so they’ll still be able to get some gaming done even if multiplayer mode is not immediately accessible.
Those who have made a digital pre-order for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and have auto-downloads configured on their Xbox can download the day one patch right away. Its 15GB so unless if you have a blazing fast internet connection, it’ll take some time.