343 Industries apologizes for 20GB 'Day One' download for Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Xbox One owners who purchase the disc version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection will have to download a big 20GB 'Day One' patch when the game is released on November 11. Now Frank O'Connor, the Franchise Development Director for the Halo franchise at developer 343 Industries, has issued a public apology for having to issue such a big patch for the game.

In a post on the NeoGAF forums, O'Connor stated, "Do I understand the inconvenience and annoyance for some users? Of course. I'm not going to blow smoke or ignore it. For some folks it will be straight up annoying and I both apologize unreservedly for the irritance, and hope that the package and the way it works more than makes up for it."

The disc version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be maxed out at 45GB with the campaigns of Halo 1-4. The 20GB patch will include the multiplayer content of all those games plus more features. In addition, Microsoft plans to release a free update in December that will contain all of the Spartan Ops episodic content in Halo 4.

So why couldn't Microsoft release the game on two discs and thus save some download time? O'Conner stated, "Anything is feasible, it simply wasn't practical for this product, this year in this timeline. The Xbox One platform continues to improve and mature, arguably faster and more meaningfully than others and maybe next year two discs or some other method would have been the right approach, but this year it's the option we have available that on balance, makes the most sense for this giant, ambitious project."

Even with the large Day One download, O'Connor says, "Most players will have a smooth and happy experience. The game will launch (including digital version) before installation is complete, so there is plenty of content to play around in while the red installs. And we are continuing to look at ways to reduce that inconvenience."

Do you think Microsoft should have released the game on two discs?

Source: NeoGAF via VG247.com

171 Comments

Pre loaded, can't wait!
This is going to be the crown jewel on 343, pretty much burying Bungie after the sorry excuse for destiny.
How will this bury Bungie? Especially since 3 out of 4 of these are Bungie games.
2 out 4 are bungie
Because the Halo titles are by 343 are newer, and they haven't really put out a game that disappointed anyone. They took over Bungie's franchise, and they have about half of Bungie's old staff on the payroll. Bungie's work since (destiny) let the community down miserably, and 343 took the spot Bungie once held, and has a bright future. TLDR:
The new Bungie is not the same as the old Bungie. They have a separate reputation. New Bungie sucks.
Sheesh.
So something that's been killing me all since I got my Xbox One is why games are all so HUGE. Why is that? I game in steam all the time and the games are both graphically superior and smaller in file size.
The games I own I find are more normal in size. On disc here is 4 different complete single player campaigns, plus menus, etc. So each game is roughly 11GB, which I think is acceptable.
It will aslo have the Halo: Nightfall TV series on it.
quite a few PC games, with less content, have hit the 30GB+ mark. Max Payne 3 (from 2012) was OVER 30GB to download from Steam.... Higher resolution textures and high quality audio, sometimes in multiple languages, tends to be the file size killer....
I think Shadow of Mordor is over 50GB on my setup.
Its due to uncompressed files. In order to maximise performance game developers have started using uncompressed textures and audio files so that the console/pc doesn't have to do the work of uncompressing them while playing etc. Allows games to run better on lower end systems so its ideal for consoles.
You don't decompress them while playing you decompress them when you install, they're just being lazy and using it as an antipiracy measure.
But like usual, the paying customer gets screwed a bit
Like people said, textures etc. Interestingly, it's another reason why the Wii U doesn't have 40GB games (and why it gets by with a paltry 32GB). Even games with great graphics like Mario Kart 8 aren't that large, because they don't use/need the high res textures.
Not true. The good games are huge in file size as well--and then, half the time you wait all that time to download a game, and you then have to wait almost as long for a goddamned update. It's like WHAT THE HELL??? This is why I miss cartridge-based gaming. Instant gratification...
Have you tried downloading NBA 2K15 for PC on Steam? Have you seen the PC versions of FinalFantasy XIII's size? or even MGS reavengeance? None of them was below 15GB (NBA 2k15 with a whooping 32GB, FFXIII even Higher.) just like XB1 or even PS4. Imagine DL'ing that with my 2Mbps connection.(yep Mbps, not MBps) I think I need capt.Blu-Ray for pc now.
Titanfall is 60GB+, I've heard. Elder Scrolls Online is a similar size. And it means I'll never ever download something like that, far too big! It's best to support independent game studios, anyway. I think they are generally more fun, and with more interesting game mechanics.
'bout time I purchase a new external hard drive me thinks
Thank god that the Xbox one is compatible with external hard drives up to 1tb so no need to complain really. Especially since you can hook two up at the same time.
Its compatible with 2 External HDD up to 4TB each.
Right now I'm all digital using an old laptop hd. A 4tb would be nice :)
For the sake they are expecting to achieve for this release, and the backlash the console itself got upon launch, they probably should have released out on two discs. Issue with the discs food those not limited in connectivity is that their internet connection is likely faster than the disc transfer rate that the bluray drive on the Xbox one can muster.
Did anything come on two discs yet? Maybe it cant handle a disc change for a single install :)
That's a good point... But also something they would likely address in a console update before such an important release.
That's the way it sounds to me. Not to mention they probably didn't have it all done in time as the Spartan Ops will still come at an even later date.
In which case, they should have delayed the fucking thing until it was ready. Really getting fucking sick of this "ship half assed, patch later" bull shit.
You said it, ship half assed patched later. If the games aren't done don't ship them till they are finished. They just make excuses and everybody falls for it.
360 did just fine with 2 disk games. If the XBO can't handle the same thats just poor design on the part of MS.
Software takes time to build. Priorities most probably. But yeah, let's go the drama queen route instead.
Its hardly the "drama queen route" to expect that the latest and greatest in video gaming technology can do the same things the now obsolete previous gen technology could do. This is taking a step back not forward.
That expectation would be true if MS was the only company making a console. The PS4 was releasing and the Xbox had to release about the same time in order to remain competitve. Now regardless of anyones opinion of the 2 machines, the Xbox was designed to do more different things. So MS had less time to do more. So they had an upset inital install base, and now look, most of those upset people sing MS praise for all the updates, and I've even seen a lot of Sony users upset about the lack of support.
Totally understand that PS4 was launching at the same time. However... the xbone was in development for quite a while. At some point in time somebody probably made a list of every feature the 360 had so they could see what they would carry over to the xbone so it's not unrealistic to believe that multidisk games came up as a possible issue at some point in time during the development process.
Not really. During the development process it was decided that the Disc drive was for DVD's, Blu-Ray, and using one disc for the game licese. It wasn't until all the backlash from the public that full game installs were considered.
Thats fine but when they made the switch decision after the backlash they should have then considered it as an option. Half thought rush decisions will most likely contine to cause problems for this console during it's lifespan. They seem to have put more emphesis on when the system would release as opposed to what it could do and how it did it. For the most part it is an excellent system bogged down by poor management decisions.
Do you know how long it takes to rewrite code? They only made the change because people cried about it, and then had to fix it with a day one patch to the machine. It's not like they had time to rewrite the OS and allow for everything. I understand though that people will always find something to complain about.
I do know how long code rewrites take, not on the scale of an operating system but yes, I do know. And people "cried" about it because they didn't like it. Obviously MS condsidered these peoples money important enough to change the system. And they only had no time because they still wanted to stick to a hard deadline despite making such major changes to the sytem. Again like I said earlier... "They seem to have put more emphesis on when the system would release as opposed to what it could do and how it did it." We are clearly on opposite sides of the spectrum here, neither is going to say anything that will change the others opinion.
You haven't been paying attention. My 360 is still a better media device than my one.
Hahaha I feel the same about it. But I get what you are saying. I guess another way to look at it is that moment an update comes out, how excited do we all get? Once new features or content appears its like Christmas or your birthday. I like that feeling so as long as the core experience is there for me to play with I suppose I don't mind waiting a little bit. I wish my birthday presents as a kid got updates a couple months later. That'd have been awesome!
<100 meg updates... yea I sometimes feel like that. But a 20 gig one? If you recall this past christmas there were lots of articles telling parents that if they were buying their kids a gaming system to open it up ahead of time and do the updates so the kids could actually play the system first thing on Christmas. My kids got a Wii U for christmas from a relative and the updates before they could play it took almost 3 hours. That is way too long for a device to be playable straight from the box. xbone and ps4 has similar updates that took a long time as well.
I pre-configured/updated my nephews Xbox Ones, because I knew their parents wouldn't have had the patience to do it.
Sorry, but it's not being a drama queen to expect a 2013 console to do what a 2005 console can do. Xbox one and PS4 were both half-assed, rushed launches , and the fact that a year later they're STILL behind their nearly decade old predecessors is proof of that. There is no excuse for this crap, and there is no excuse for "ship broken, patch later".
Remember the XBO was originally meant to use disks only as a means of holding a license. It was never expected to swap disks, or even keep the disk on board. They did a last minute change, but the thing still acts the same way overal. It still installs the game to the HD. The only difference is that the thing now is not copying the license over to the device and invalidating the disk as it was designed to, instead, every time you run the game, it is looking at the license. So yea, I am betting it is indeed that the console cant handle multi-disk. They could have also split the game in two, each disk could be a different game (Disk 1 - 1+2, Disk 2 - +4) but that would have meant people can *ghasp* share the game they are not currently playing!!! :P
That would have caused the menu to not be seamless. If you wanted to jump from Halo 1 to Halo 4, you would have to get up and swap the disks.
Get up and swap disk? How would we cope? THE HORROR!!!
Given the fact that it's only the multiplayer component it's not bad, it also means that for those people who maybe have an Xbox one but without the internet (I'm sure they exist somewhere) then they won't have their hard drive burdened with something they won't use. It would be good if they made it optional for everyone (anyone without gold membership shouldn't be forced to download it in my opinion) but I can't see that happening.
I dont mind. Too much complaint for barely nothing. Is different than, say, Destiny that requires tha 6Gb download to finish to even start the game. In this case thats only required for multiplayer, so, come on...
20GB? That's too damn big, you have levels than Destiny for that shit!
don't apologize, do what you have to to make your game great... those who don't like it just don't get it... can't wait
Exactly people dont get it
I with you.
They probably aren't putting it out on two discs because they didn't want to pay for two discs. They lose money by including a second disc with each copy sold.
LOL that is definitely not the reason. Discs cost peanuts to them and the reason is a technical one, not a money one.
Shouldn't they apologize for not bringing anything to the PC - despite Microsoft's newly established emphasis on PC gaming...
Ryse and Deadrising 3 just came though, unless you mean halo exclusively.
He's just being a PC gamer...lol =P
He's not though is he. None of us asked for Ryse or deadrising three. Although it is nice to have them when they turn around and say hey we gave you xbox exclusives these are exclusives no one asked for. We want halo master chief collection.
Umm, it will go to PC later in its life cycle. That is a guarantee. But when in its life cycle?
Yepp. Exactly. This would prove Microsoft's seriousness about PC gaming.
Of course I was talking "Halo". The article above is about "Halo".
Well with windows 10 maybe it will? I think Microsoft is afraid of people torrenting it. But speaking of exclusives/exclusively, you'd get ps4 gamers who say, "oh see, only a timed exclusive." Even though Microsoft doesn't care because most pc gamers use windows..
They need to sell Xbox Ones...so I don't blame them for a delayed release. Why buy an Xbox if the so-called exclusives also release for another platform as well?
I am with you, none of this people knows what it takes to code something this big to begin with. This is a 4-in-1 game for $60, it is worth it!
Doesn't Microsoft constantly stress how close Windows and Xbox one are technology-wise?
So it should be relatively easy for them to bring the Xbox-coded games to PC.
That's, currently, only true of the app portion of the Xbox One. games are coded to the metal. once DirectX 12 hits, things will be different, as even though there'll still need to be coding to specific hardware targets, at least the APIs for doing so will be the same. Right now porting an Xbox One game is not as simple as all that, especially given it's exotic memory architecture. I think we're not going to see quick ports till Windows 10, when DirectX 12 comes out.
The only game I am preordering on my xbone
It's actually 'xbONE'.
Even if it is a disc it still needs to be installed.
I thought only Apple assumed that everyone has unlimited high speed internet.
Games are big these days. And getting bigger. Non story.
Yeah, I don't get the big deal either. If you have an Xbox One, you have a reasonably fast Internet connection. You download it and install it once. Big deal. It takes less time than getting to the store and back.
"It takes less time than getting to the store and back." Not gonna lie, if this is a true statement I am VERY jealous of your internet connection. I can get to the store and back in about 20-30 minutes. To d/l this game would take me several days.
Well I'm on the slower fibre connection in the UK and can Dow load 17.5GB per hour. Might upgrade to the 35GB per hour package for next month just for this and all the other games coming out!
That's impressive, fiber is not even an option where I live. Just a couple miles down the road from my house cable or dsl isn't even an option.
But the hard drove is only 500GB, so how many games can you fit? 10-15? That's not a whole lot. They need to increase the hard drive size.
You can buy 1Tb XBOs now, or just attach a USB3 drive. The XBO can take 2 external drives of up to 4Tb each.
How does that affect performance though? If they're connect by USB, will the game be able to run as fast as it would on the internal hard drive?
Complaining about a large download? First world problems.
We're gamers. We feel entitled.
Actually an "all the world" problem. One of the main complaints many of us had when MS was trying to sell us on the possibility of a disk-less system and digital downloads was that many of us don't have fantastic internet. Some areas have caps that low enough that you would use almost 2 months of your internet just to download the campaigns and the mp. Some of us don't have the caps but to d/l that would take around a week. I'm all for digital downloads if that is what you want to do. However I still like to buy disks as that is a better solution for my situation. A game that requires a 20 gig download to play is a game I do not buy. They should have put it on two disks.
His point is that we don't live in an ebloa war zone while we starve. Maybe some people need a little perspective.
While I understand your point this is a thread about video games and downloading. I didn't butt into a thread about ebola and be like "oh boo hoo you're sick, I have to d/l game updates". In a thread about a required 20 gig download people are going to complain about d/l times and data caps, and why didn't they put a second disk in there. Perspective has a time and place, if we had to consider the perspective of every person every time we posted anything, no thread would even remotely stay on track.
They were probably not done with the multiplayer before they had to finalize it for the disks so they couldn't put it on two disks. That's what I gathered from this post
If that's the case then this is just another incomplete rush job like all the rest. I love gaming but I hate the saturation of corporate greed manifested by imposing deadlines that cause this scenario to happen over and over again. It's getting really old.
This ^^ totally. This isn't a case of making a better game for us. This is a case of "we need to get this out the door NOW!!!" The game wasn't done and instead of delaying it for a week or so to get everything finalized they used the now all-too-common release the incomplete game and then issue a giant patch later methodology.
Deadlines are imposed on companies in different industries all over the world. You dont think that 343's drop dead date to get information on that disc wasnt discussed in meetings at the highest levels within the XBOX division, and up in MS. They needed to get the game to ship by a certain date, the info needed to be on the disc on a certain date to do this. This is no different than any other industry out there - and if you dont get it, maybe you need your pampers changed. Get over yourself, and go enjoy the damn game, and quit complaining like a bunch of entitled babies.
And at some point in a meeting somebody probably said something along the lines of "hey guys this won't be done in time" and instead of delaying it they decided to go and release the complete part at launch and then release the rest via patch later. Games get delayed all the time, this would have been nothing new, it would have been a slight blemish on the game but something people totally forgive. Instead they chose the "release partially done - patch later" option which people tend to dislike a lot more than a delayed game.
If it's done by the release date, then how is it unfinished?
Well said. Seems like some people take their entertainment way to seriously. Besides, all the campaign content for the 4 Halos will work without this 20 gig Day 1 patch. If you happen to have a slow connection, yes it sucks, but just play the campaign while the multiplayer Day 1 patch downloads in the background. It hardly is the end of the world. If you are the type that wants to get their panties in a wad over having to download the Day 1 patch, then dont buy it...make your grandstand. For me, I dont want to see the game delayed to make it 2 disks; I would rather start enjoying the game now and patch in the multiplayer as it downloads in the background, as it is currently setup.
whats the cost of a disk like $1 ?
Now multiply that by the number of packages already minted, wrapped and bound for release, reverse it and double it... It's a lot more than you can possibly imagine. You should probably watch Mr. Rogers and learn all about it! ;p
(...and you can probably imagine how old I am by that reference :/)
Idc, it's multiplayer stuff anyway, almost all the games have to download from the disc anyway, how's this all that different? I just can't wait for it to come out and go to those release parties! =P
Ever heard of triple-layer blu ray discs?
That would be dumb. Those things can run as high as $15 a piece a.k.a. 25% of their revenue per game just for the disc.
I would spend some more if all the content came on a disc(s), some people still have old DSL networks. But I did not know it could be that expensive for triple layer discs.
I know right? They were probably to cheap to put in a drive that can read them.
You just want to spend that much more per game and fleece the rest of us, I'm good thanks O_o
You're not thinking this through. They would be taking the loss on the back end for an additional disc. Game prices are standardized. You wouldn't pay any more then you're already going to anyway.
Nice to see all those industries apologizing for that. =P
I don't see what the big problem is, we don't live in the dark ages anymore. We live in a connected world and I'm going all digital for my XBO, even most of my PC games are digital (CEs are not counted in this :) ).
Being that everything has to install to the Xbox one hard drive, there wont really be swapping after the initial install, they could have included it and let it install in the background after the first disc completes. And you can verify the physical copy of the game with either disc inserted so at least it will launch no matter what.
Do I think this should have been on two discs. Fuck yes! I don't think his comment is truly genuine. He apologizes but knew full well a long time ago that multiplayer wasn't going to be put on its own disk. What kind of bs is "maybe next year" it would have been possible, but this year it's not. "On balance, makes the most sense". F that. It makes the most sense for their profit. His entire statement is disingenuous.
Totally agree.
Sounds like they are releasing a unfinished product. Sad thats acceptable these days
It's not unfinished, it was just too big for one disc
Then it should have been on two disks. Putting it as a d/l instead of a second disk says it wasn't ready when it went to press so they skipped the second disk and went with the d/l option.
I suspect it's an issue with the way game installs and copy protection work. The lisencing and install processes are probably not set up to handle two discs, and it'd be a very low priority feature for the OS team, as exactly one game was going to require that functionality. It may also be a comlpex fix, so how many months of other feature updates would you have been willing to see bumped?
With the amount of HD content in this game, its to be expected. I don't care about the 20GB download. I already downloaded the 45GBs overnight. Another 20GB so I don't have to use/change discs is good for me. Expect the consoles after XB1 and PS4 to be disc-less. No need to apologize for it. Next Gen consoles and the way technology is heading, gotta be close minded to not expect this.
People are just cry-babies, and cannot accept that beloved disc swapping gaming is a thing of the past.
And you have to be closed minded to not see that everybody doesn't have the same fantastic internet as you. Some parts of the world have terrible internet, some have low data caps. Even here in the US we have both, in some areas broadband isn't even available at all. For me to download a 65 gig game (campaigns + mp) would take me several days if not a full week. So excuse me for being so "close minded" for not loving all digital downloads.
Yet, you can buy the disk and not have to download that 45 gigs and play the campaign on day 1. Then allow the system to download in the background for the 20 gig multiplayer Day 1 patch. It sounds like it would not take a full week to download 20 gigs, if so then yes it sucks for you but it's hardly end of world kind of thing, you can still enjoy Halo 1 - 4 campaign on day 1. This is what us "older" people call a storm in a teacup.
Absolutely not an "end of the world" thing. But it is an "annoyance that will cause me not to buy it" thing. I already own all 4 of the games in their original form and the first in 360 remake. The CE remake was entertaining for a while going "oohhh look how cool that looks now compared to the original" but it lost its appeal real quick. For me, and I assume a lot of people the mp is the big draw here. And yea, "storm in a teacup" but people get a lot more irritated for a lot worse reasons.
Instead of a second disc, why not allow disc users the ability to preload the update.
How do you know who a disc user is before they put the disc in the drive?
So people complain about a 20GB download content they weren't going to play from the get go anyways? Geez, I bet most of these download more gigs of porn every single day, but when a game wants to download huge quantities of content, it's a no go. Please, get back under your rocks again.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Simple solution.
Can someone enlighten me as to how, when you have to install the discs to current gen consoles anyway, having a second disc would alleviate any of these issues?
Some people don't have very fast internet, so downloading 20GB's can take a long time.
Fair point. I went 90% digital and often forget about that fact. I figure it could also push the data limits on some peoples' broadband accounts, now that I give it a bit more thought.
Dear goodness, it is annoying if you're tethering to your cell phone and don't have unlimited (an unlikely combo). Otherwise, really, what is the big deal? Online patches make hella more sense than disc releases - especially in helping get new/fixed/etc content out quicker to the customer. If they had printed that patch onto discs it would have delayed and probably reduced the amount of "ready" stuff - and that would still have required a patch. This is the nature of "gold" RTM and "patch" releases. The platform has suffered bad PR from some unfortunate calls, no doubt, but this shouldn't one of them. I do hope his apology suffices for those who are making this non-issue an issue.
There's no reason they should've to apologize for the additional download. That's what it takes to bring the games and the entire experience from the 4 games all at once.
I don't mind except at midnight, I have to wait that much longer to play.....It took a while just to download the 45 gigs preload. Now, at launch, I have to wait 1-2 hours? I am pretty excited to play and this part kinda sucks. Two discs would have been much smarter. OR allow the 20 gig download NOW.
If you purchased the digital copy for pre-download, the patch will also pre-install so you won't have anything left to download when it unlocks for you at midnight.
If that is true, that makes me happy :)
The 20GB update will be preloaded when it is available.
From what he said, I believe the xbox one don't support 2 disc installs... I think that when you install a game from disc the system checks if there's a newer version on servers and install what it cans from disc and the rest gets from net...
I have 360 games that had multiple disks so clearly their previous gen hardware could handle this. If the XBO can't handle two disks that's just laziness/cheapness on the part of MS.
Like L.A. Noire?
The Xbox One has an entirely different architecture for how it works though. Games aren't run off the disc at all, and the work to remove the drm stuff that made the discs unnecessary after install was obviously rushed. It's quite possible that, without more system work, and that system work would be really low priority given that it impacts exactly one game, that having two discs would do weird things to licensing, allowing two systems to run the same game, or create a problem with the way the installs work. Resources are finite for system upgrades; what features that we've gotten in the last year would you be willing to give up to avoid this patch?
I already have this pre-loaded? Does that include this patch?
Probably not.
Not yet, but it will be preloaded when it is available.
Having to download something the online section doesn't sound that bad. After all your going to need an internet connection to play the online part anyway. It while be worse if the disk content was useless. The size of the download might be big but does the size really matter? You only download it once.
I get about 1.7 mb/s. Sounds like a 48 hour download
Besides the fact that gigabytes cost money. The five hundred gig hard drive always felt like a slap in the face to me. This current generation of consoles is full of mistakes and regrets. In my opinion.
Can you imagine the cost of a terabyte solid state drive on consoles?
Would have been preferable to release later on two discs.
I prefer the current method 343 chose. I do not want to see the game delayed. On day 1 we can buy the disk and install it and start playing the Halo 1 - 4 campaign while the mulitplayer 20 gig Day 1 patch downloads in the background. Or, you can digital preorder and have the patch pre-loaded when it's available.
It's NeoGAF. There is practically nothing Microsoft could have done to make them happy. If they had released on two discs, the idiots on NeoGAF would have complained that switching discs is an inconvenience and that they should have made the disc-2 content available for download. If they had done both the disc and the download, NeoGAF would complain that they are being forced to choose and the whole thing should be on a single disc. If it was all on a single disc, NeoGAF would complain that everything is too compressed, and it should be on two discs.
Heh, this comment made me chuckle. :-)
skype updated with new features
A 2nd disc probably would not make sense for this, if they want a seemless transition from signle player to multiple player, then it is correct imo to have it as a day one patch vs two discs. This allows those that go from campaign to MP or vice versa to do so withouth swapping discs. If I recall, they had multiple discs from one of the last halo games, not sure if it was reach or 4, but it was separated and i had to switch between the two. If they couldn't find a solution to prevent swapping this was def the right choice.
Wow, alot of people are gunna blow the lids off their data caps this month. 20Gb day one patch is unheard of and hopefully won't become a trend
True, but we're taking about 4 games here.
I'm guessing it is 20gb compressed??
Preloaded... :-)
We really don't have a choice. The users that download the "digital version" will not be able to participate in the Halo 5: Guardians Beta. It clearly states that a disc is needed to participate. I was going to just digitally download it until I read that. Had this been 10 years ago. 20GB would've taken all day to download now it's maybe an hour or two. Not worried. Can't wait to play all of the Master Chief Halo's again. Gamertag: FearedByN0NE. 10 years on Xbox Live.
Digital version gets Halo 5 Beta access too!
http://www.purexbox.com/news/2014/10/dont_worry_halo_master_chief_collec... "Well, we're happy to confirm that isn't the case. Fans got right on to 343 Industries to find out the full details, and Halo Franchise Community Manager Andy Dudynsky has confirmed that digital copies of the Master Chief Collection DO include access to the Halo 5 beta."
Don't mind it because I got it pre loaded already!!!!
So, whatever they released to the disc fab house was essentially just a splash screen, an intro movie(?), some art assets, some maps(?), and an update application. Pretty sad that THAT would qualify as "gone gold."
I have two problems with a 20Gb patch:
data caps and disc space.
While I have a high data cap, not every one does and since it is mp maps those that dont care for it cant tell it not to install. Optional to download would be great.
Then there is the fact that this game will end up taking 1/6 of the available space on the hard drive.
I don't see Bungie apologizing for the complete lack of proper story telling, bad multiplayer and the half complete game they sold overall. Not to mention the $20 DLCs which aren't even DLCs cause the areas are in the game, they are just empty.
So basically with this they will be causing huge hate and frustration in lots of countries! I can say for a fact that 90% of the Halo fans here in South Africa will drop the Xbox for PlayStation because of this because uncapped internet is a rare thing and most of us have a data cap waaaaaaay less then 20gig.... Hopefully they realize this and bring out a double disc package for countries outside of Europe and America.
There aren't enough good games out for XB1 to fill the XB1 HDD anyway, so I'm not mad. External storage is also so cheap, this can be a non-issue with a 2TB external drive. Move along, 343 has done nothing wrong here. Just buy the digital version anyway, nobody needs a disc to play games these days.
I wonder if they could allow us to predownload the patch?
Can I not downoad this patch and just play the game? My gut tells me I should be able to, but seeing is believing (or in this case, reading is). I like single player campaign but never cared for multiplayer.
Can someone remind me of a "next gen" release that includes 4 games, one being a total remaster with full cg cutscenes and rerecorded musical score, multiplayer playlists up the booty and...for $60? Cause I don't hear "20 GB patch", I hear "unrivaled in recent console gaming bang for my buck".
Exactly! And people complaining about not having good internet to download the update, I mean come on if your internet is that bad obviously your not going to be playing the multiplayer online anyway thanks to that bad internet so get over it.
Just allow us to preload the patch of we want to buy the disc version
I think we should have the option to pre downloaded it, and have it delete itself if not installed by a certain date.
Yeah its true not everyone has awesome internet but whether or not they do, it turns into a personal issue. I have a buddy I used to play Halo 3,Reach, and 4 all the time. He decided to move into an area where high speed internet isn't available for multiplayer or a good experience at that. Who's fault is that? It's a real issue but should we halt the way things are progressing for some people who choose to live in an area where internet isn't that great? Talking about US here not outside the US. If you want to take advantage of faster internet, move. Pretty soon discs are gonna be gone whether you like it or not and will be big downloads for everything. Thats just how technology is moving. Some like the idea of pushing digital downloads over disc. It's the future.
This was supposed to be a reply to someone....
Oh just move if your internet connection is bad. Wow how silly I feel, why didn't I think of that earlier. I knew moving to my current location based on my job and the schools for my kids was stupid! I'll just drop by my bosses office real quick to tell him I'm quitting so I can move to somewhere with better internet. I'm sure my wifes employer will be cool with it as well. The kids should be fine with changing schools and making all new friends as their internet will be faster. Again.. wow, thanks for your words of wisdom.
Was this those whiners on Neogaf again?
Will the digital version have the same update? They're not mentioning it. And I have a 1TB HD hooked up to my Xbox. Why is everyone so concerned about the size of games. There are ways to not fill up your internal HD.
You can play the Halo games while the multiplayer downloads.
Why they apologizes?? For master collection is small size!
Wow it will take 2 months for me to download it as I only get 15gb a month on the plan I am on. I can only get wireless broadband and the maximum plans is only 15 gb per month
They should have an option to break up the patches for each game to make it easier for those on a slower connection.
Pre installed and ready to take the fight to the covenant on November 11th
If you have a friend or family who own an Xbox. You can technically copy the game from his portable Hard disk to your hard disk. No internet required. Anyone tried this before?

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