Halo: The Master Chief Collection - 343 apologises for 20GB day-one download

343 Industries boss Frank O'Connor has apologised for a 20GB day-one download for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Some fans have been critical of the big update and asked why the game couldn't ship on two discs. But O'Connor said that the game is intended to be a seamless experience, and switching between discs would disrupt the experience.

"The game is designed to run as a single, unified product, digital is seamless obviously, but we also wanted disc users to have the same experience, without swapping discs," he wrote on Neogaf.

"Since the bulk of it is MP or MP related, the logic is sound. There will ALSO be a TU in there, but that in itself is a tiny fraction of the content."

The 20GB is mainly related to multiplayer portion of the game, which makes up a significant part of the remastered package.

"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"

It's also possible to play the single-player campaign missions in Halo: The Master Chief Collection while the 20GB update downloads.

O'Connor said that the game could in theory have shipped on two discs, but it wasn't a practical option at this point.

"Anything is feasible, it simply wasn't practical for this product, this year in this timeline," he said.

"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.

"Do I understand the inconvenience and annoyance for some users? Of course. I'm not going to blow smoke or ignore it."

O'Connor apologised for the annoyance of a 20GB update, adding that he hopes the final package will speak for itself.

"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.

"I've been playing the whole enchilada for a week now and the ability to sample, jump from aspect to aspect, customize with skulls and playlists has been absolutely addictive and mesmerizing.

"I think I would have enjoyed a box set with the same fidelity, but the way it all connects has for me at least, made it more than the sum of its parts."

Thanks, Eurogamer.