Halo 5 patch: 9GB day one patch needed before gamers can play Halo 5: Guardians online

Studio director for the game said on Twitter that the hefty patch contains 'map content'

Gamers will have to wait before they can play Halo 5 online

Gamers looking forward to playing Halo 5: Guardians on its release on 27 October will have to wait to download a 9GB day one patch before the game's multiplayer mode can run properly.

Those without the patch won't even be able to play multiplayer at all until it's downloaded, in yet another case of a blockbuster game needing a patch on the day of launch.

Josh Holmes, studio director for the game, confirmed that there would be a patch on Twitter, and said it contained some "map content".

According to Ofcom, the average UK broadband speed is 22.8Mbit/s, meaning it would take about an hour to download the patch if your download rate stayed steady. However, this is mostly due to the rise of superfast broadband - if you've got a slower connection, you'll have to wait hours before you can play Halo 5 the way it was meant to be played.

Fortauntely, the patch will be available to download before the game's release, meaning if you buy a physical copy, you can prepare before and play the game online straight out of the box.

And if you've pre-ordered a digital copy, there won't be too much of a problem - the patch will come bundled into the download, bringing the total size of the game to roughly 55GB.

Day one patches are becoming an increasingly common bugbear for many gamers, as studios make essential tweaks to games after release.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate, which releases on 23 October, is another big title that will need patching from day one - the two patches (yes, two) that players will need are around 1GB in total, so hopefully it won't create such a delay for players.

Compare that to the fiasco that was Assassin's Creed Unity, which was so broken at launch that Ubisoft ended up giving away free DLC and games to angry players. A series of patches were released, and it was months before the game's many issues were finally solved.

There's nothing wrong with day one patches in principle - the time between a completed game being sent off for certification and manufacturing and its launch can be quite long, so many gamers would welcome it if the developers found a way to improve the game in the meantime.

But large patches that are essential to the playability of the game, such as the Halo 5 patch, can be annoying to people with slower internet connections or low disc space.

Unfortunately, technology means day one patches aren't likely to go away any time soon. Before the days of internet-enabled consoles, games had to be perfect upon release, because there was no easy way of fixing a problem once the discs or cartridges had been shipped.

Now, with fast download speeds and ubiquitous internet, releasing patches isn't such a big deal.

And with such a valuable and huge games industry and multi-million pound marketing campaigns, it's essential to get games launched on their very carefully-chosen release dates.

It's not going to be easy for many gamers to sit and wait for their 9GB Halo patch download on the 27th, but don't expect this phenomenon to go away any time soon.