Halo 5 update: Xbox One fans frustrated by slow downloads as Microsoft launch guide

The popular Microsoft title launched with much fanfare this week

XBOX ONE fans eager to start their latest adventure with the Master Chief in Halo 5: Guardians have been hit by slow download issues.

 

The game officially hit shelves today but has seen some fans unable to complete digital downloads without having to wait hours for it to finish.

Halo 5 is a sizeable download, including 55GBS of data, with a further 9GB patch needed to play the game online.

Users on Twitter have complained that the game has taken over seven hours to reach the 50% mark.

One user wrote: "Glad my 13 hour halo 5 digital download finished this morning right before I left for work all day.

While another commented: "I feel like Halo 5's patch download has been stuck on 92% for what must be 4 years now."

 



The popular Microsoft title launched with much fanfare this week







Gamers have been warned by Piers Harding-Rolls, a games analyst at IHS, that this could become increasingly common for the biggest titles.

"If you go for a digital version you've got to download the whole game and if it's a very popular one you're likely to be dealing with a slow network as well," he told the BBC.

"From the consumer point of view, it's not great to have to wait many hours to get access to content," he said.

"This is an issue that console companies and publishers really need to look at seriously."

 



Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox One



Pre-loading the game is one way of fixing this situation, although it would not include the day one patch and it looks likely that these are set to become industry standard moving forward.

The Xbox support team have since shared a troubleshoot guide on how to avoid low download speeds, including restarting your console, monitoring your overall download speeds and reinstalling content.

"Your ISP connection speed should be at least 1.5 Mb/s for the best experience while connected to Xbox Live," the Microsoft guide explains.

Looking to get Halo 5 installed as fast as possible? Be sure to check out our guide to troubleshoot slow downloads: https://t.co/hU7IFc0k9J

— Xbox Support (1-5) (@XboxSupport) October 27, 2015