Halo Infinite requires big downloads to start playing, disc or no disc

Halo Space requires big downloads to start playing, disc or no disc

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Halo Infinite is finally available today (Dec. 8) in its entirety. While gamers take been able to dive into the multiplayer part of the game for the last few weeks, today marks the first time that the game's story campaign is bachelor.

If you lot've cleaved the shackles of physical media and purchased the game digitally, you tin can start downloading the game at 1 p.chiliad. Eastern time. If y'all have the disc, though, yous may run into a small problem: Halo Infinite's entrada isn't on the disc, at to the lowest degree non in its entirety.

This information comes from Eurogamer, which measured how much data the Halo Infinite disc installs versus how much the console needs to download. The disc contains 15 GB worth of entrada data, just the full game is much larger: 25 GB for the campaign, as well every bit iv GB for the multiplayer component. (You demand the multiplayer portion of the game even if yous desire to play only the entrada.)

If y'all take a strong net connection without data caps, this absolutely isn't much of an upshot. You can't preload the campaign either way, so if y'all boot up your Xbox at 1 p.k., you lot can have the game ready to play past dinnertime.

But it does raise an interesting question: What expert is buying a physical copy of a game if yous can't really play information technology out of the box?

Most modernistic games, including Halo Infinite, have substantial 24-hour interval-One patches that you'll want to download to go the best experience. Withal more often than not speaking, discs ship with a playable copy of the game.

This can exist a benefaction for players with weak internet connections or restrictive data caps. It's also a safeguard against the Microsoft Store eventually shutting down. Someday in the far future, you'll no longer be able to download Halo Space, but a disc (in theory) should always be readable.

Microsoft hasn't explained the exact breakup between the data stored on Halo Space's disc and the data the game requires players to download from the Microsoft Store. Either way, though, just inserting the disc into your Xbox volition not exist enough to beginning playing the campaign. What, precisely, is the value of buying a disc if you have to download the better function of the game, anyway?

This problem isn't exclusive to Microsoft, granted. If you lot buy a physical copy of BioShock: The Collection on Nintendo Switch, you'll have to download most of the information before you can play it. The physical disc or cartridge offers no advantage over digital copies, and one pregnant disadvantage: Yous nevertheless need to keep the physical media in your system while yous play the game.

In any case, Halo Infinite is finally hither, and it seems similar it was worth the wait. Our Halo Infinite review awarded the game 3.5 out of v stars, claiming that it's "exactly what the franchise needed." That seems worth waiting a few more hours. Xbox I owners should also be aware that Halo Infinite runs pretty well on older hardware, even if it doesn't have however visual entreatment.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and engineering science. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on archetype sci-fi.