Patches and updates are a common thing for most video games these days- even sadder, day one patches are par for the course for just about every major release nowadays. Rare is the game that will take the hit and be delayed simply so that it can ship a complete experience on disc.
So it’s not really a surprise then that Gears of War 4, the next entry in Microsoft’s third person shooter franchise, and the first developed by new studio The Coalition, will have a day one patch, too. But what is interesting is just how it will be distributed.
Speaking on Twitter, Rod Fergusson confirmed that a day one patch for the game exists, but he also clarified that you only have to download it if you buy the disc version of the game (in which case, the patch is an additional 11GB that you need to download). If you buy the digital version of the game, then the patch comes included as part of the game’s files, which weigh in at almost 55GB.
Put simply, then, it sounds like Gears of War 4‘s day one patch isn’t something that was developed after the game went gold, as much as it is something that was separated from the game because the disc simply didn’t have enough space for it.
I guess that is something I can understand.