Bad news for those hoping to play The Division 2 the second it launches: There's going to be a required day one patch that weighs in between 48 to 52 GB — digital downloaders don't have to worry, but those who preordered the physical disc are in for a surprise shortly after they boot the game up.

The Division 2 Day One Patch

The Division 2 arrives on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One next week — the exact release date will vary based across editions and different locations around the globe. A "day one" download isn't all that new as a gaming practice, although gamers have expressed their frustrations over essentially buying a "blank" CD and being forced to download heaps and heaps of data just to get their game running.

Years and years ago, buying a video game was a done deal — everything is stored in the CD, and players can insert it into their console and start playing immediately. These days, with the rise of DLC and increasing efforts to keep pirates at bay, a number of publishers implement day one patches.

The Division 2 Early Release

In the case of The Division 2, the size of the day one patch is the size of the installed game. That means while players might have the physical media, it won't actually have much data stored in it. To mitigate players' frustrations, some manufacturers sell their titles earlier than the scheduled release date to give people time to prepare. In fact, Ubisoft has arranged for retailers to sell The Division 2 up to three days earlier.

The full launch is scheduled on March 15 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

"The Division 2 is a seamless online experience, giving you the freedom to play solo or coop up to four players and to engage not only in the story-driven campaign, but also in a robust endgame with new progression, a new faction, and new activities," Ubisoft writes. "Players will also be able to test their skills against other players in intense PVP activities, with three different Dark Zones and 4v4 Skirmish and Domination modes."