343 Industries boss Frank O’Connor has apologised for a 20GB day-one download for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, but said it was the only way.

Speaking via Neogaf to those critical of the day one patch, O’Conner said, “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.

“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 which is obviously important to most, so the developer hopes people will understand.

“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

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

Are you looking forward to the Halo: Master Chief Collection?