Installing Xbox One Games Takes Way Too Long

So here’s the general idea: You put in a game to install it, a progress bar comes up, and at some point you can launch the game and start playing while it keeps installing.

On PS4, after inserting a disc, you’ll be shown a progress bar that ends when you’re able to launch the game, and if there’s a day-one update, it downloads in the background, and you can install it when you want to play online or whatever the case may be for that update.

On Xbox One, you insert a disc and are shown a progress bar showing the percentage of the full installation, and when enough is installed to run the game, you’ll see a message that says “Ready to Start!” The only difference is that the installation from the disc doesn’t seem to start until you’ve downloaded and installed the update.

Now, there’s another big difference here. Both consoles will let you know when the game is ready to launch. But once you get into the game, some parts may not be finished installing. For ACIV and Battlefield 4, that would mean the multiplayer modes (on both platforms). However, it seems that Xbox One lets you launch a game even before some singleplayer content is ready. I tested this with Madden 25 on Xbox One. Once the game was “ready to start” most modes like Connected Franchise or Practice were locked off until the game was completely installed. However, after installing the same game on PS4, those modes were playable after the initial install, which took 38 seconds.

We tested Assassin’s Creed IV on two different Xbox Ones, and had the same issue, resulting in standing in that beautiful Animus loading void while it installed the last bits of singleplayer content required to start the story. Although in that case it only required a couple of extra minutes to get those modes. Unlike Madden, the full disc didn’t need to be installed. On both consoles, the game has a timer or progress meter in the main menu telling you the progress of the full install. So at least you aren’t left blindly guessing when you’ll be able to play.

Since all of the games we were testing required an update, we factored this into our times. On the PS4, they happened in the background and didn’t affect our ability to install or begin the game, while on Xbox One, the installation from disc wouldn’t begin until after the update finished.

I was using an Xbox One connected via Wi-Fi, getting about 9-11Mbps download speed, so we ran a test with another Xbox on a faster internet connection installing Assassin’s Creed IV to see how much of a difference that could make in downloading the update. To give you an idea of the time difference the 300-500MB updates added, we tested installing Assassin’s Creed IV on two consoles with the internet disconnected.

How Long Until You Can First Play A Game On PS4 And Xbox One

[Since this has been asked in the comments a lot: We recorded these times with the consoles hooked up normally. Even though having the PS4 plugged into the Xbox shouldn’t affect anything, we only did that for the video]

Assassin’s Creed IV:
Xbox One (offline, no update): 5 minutes 50 seconds
Xbox One (with update, fastest connection): 7 minutes 2 seconds
Xbox One (with update, 10Mbps connection): 10 minutes 32 seconds
PS4: 42 seconds