Why is Sniper Elite 3's day-one Xbox One patch 10GB?

Sniper Elite 3 is out this week on various formats, but the Xbox One edition will come with a hefty 10GB patch on day one. Developer Rebellion has explained what it's all about.

It follows this video of Sniper Elite 3's first 15 minutes. Check it out.

The above image was taken by Eurogamer, which discovered that Sniper Elite 3's mandatory install was originally planned to be 21GB in size, but the 10GB day-one patch brings the full install size down to 19GB. That's still quite large however.

Explaining the patch size, Rebellion stated, "The main part of the update is to sync data between the game's retail discs and the Xbox Live digital download edition of the game. In the several weeks between sending the code off to manufacture and release, rather than sit around or take a break, we've continued to work on the game, making improvements and optimisations.

"We've also begun work on multiplayer DLC and a small part of this update is to introduce a compatibility pack. This is standard for any game that adds DLC - it's just to make sure everyone can have the same multiplayer experience whether they own DLC or not."

10GB is large for a day-one patch, and understandably, gamers on lower speed lines might not respond too well to the news. Rebellion addressed this in its statement as well.

"While we understand gamers will be frustrated at the wait, the good news is that the update will actually reduce the size of the game's total install footprint on their hard drive, and reduce the size of future patches significantly," the team went on.

"It's part of this ongoing optimisation process that's enabled Sniper Elite 3 to perform well at a native 1080p on both Xbox One and PS4. We appreciate everyone's patience and we firmly believe Sniper Elite 3 will be worth the wait!"

Will you be picking up Sniper Elite 3 on June 27? Let us know below.