Microsoft has announced that Halo 4’s multiplayer has components on the second disc included in the Halo 4 package will have to be installed in order to be played. The data on disc 2 for the multiplayer will require 8GB of storage. This means it will not work on Xbox 360 4GB systems without additional storage.

The additional storage can come in the form of a hard drive, of course, or a USB flash drive up to 16GB that is compatible with the system. With the low cost of compatible 16GB USB flash drives these days, it really should not be that big of a deal. In the case of Xbox 360 owners who have the non-slim version of the console, used hard drives in sizes from 20GB to 250GB are in abundance at all price points.

According to Microsoft, the “extensive suite of multiplayer features” made the installation necessary, but it should not create that much of a hardship to Xbox 360 4GB console owners wanting to play Halo 4 in multiplayer mode, given the lower costs associated with USB flash drives or used hard drives. In fact, the numbers of users that don’t have additional storage is likely to be fewer than one might think.

This is not the first time that we have seen additional content required to be loaded on a USB Flash Drive or the hard drive to get the most out of a game. By today’s standards, the 8GB of storage on an Xbox 360 disc is small compared to the 50GB offered by the Blu-ray on the PlayStation 3, or the 25GB offered by the upcoming Wii U. However, Microsoft has already addressed the situation once by maximizing the space that developers have to use on the disc when they introduced the new disc format in one of the previous updates. We are doubtful that the news will move the meter much, as users will be willing to buy a flash drive or a used drive in order to play Halo 4 in multiplayer.