Halo Infinite is out on December 8 worldwide. You can buy it or play it as part of your Xbox Game Pass subscription on PC or Xbox. While the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta has been live for a few weeks now, the campaign isn’t available until the official release date, and it works slightly differently from most first-party Xbox Game Studios titles. This guide covers whether you can preload Halo Infinite’s campaign or not, so you know when to sit down and play.

No option to preload the campaign

At the time of writing, developer 343 Industries has released a statement explaining that Halo Infinite’s campaign will be out on December 8 at the previously shared times. Additionally, it confirmed that there is no option to preload the campaign, so all players will have to download it once it has gone live in their region.

This means that there’s no way you’ll be able to play the campaign as soon as it’s available. For example, if the campaign goes live at 10 AM PT in your region, you’ll need to open your PC or Xbox and trigger the download at that time. From there, you’re held hostage by your internet speed and the pressure on Microsoft Store servers as millions of people around the world do the same thing, likely slowing download speeds to a snail’s pace.