Mario Kart 8 Deluxe launches in just a few weeks, and now the digital version's file size has been revealed. A listing on Amazon Germany has indicated the game will take up 6.75 GB if you download it to your Nintendo Switch.

That means purchasing the game digitally will take up 21% of the Switch's 32 GB internal storage--though that proportion will be slightly higher if you take into account memory space taken up by system settings and the console's operating system.

By comparison, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild takes up 13.4 GB on Switch, while the original Wii U version of Mario Kart 8 is around 8.2 GB.

Source

So basically it's time to buy an SD card?

How does Nintendo manage to compress their games like that? Why can't PS4 or XBO games do that? I am constantly having to delete games to have enough space.

I know the feel, Had to get an external harddrive cause i ran out of 500gb real quick

More reasons for me to get the physical version.

or buy a physical copy.

It usually comes down to one (or a combination) of these:

- Nintendo's game tend to be smaller in scale, as far as asset quantity goes. Something like Mario Kart requires far less modelling, texturing, and audio work than something like Forza. When they do make more asset demanding games, like BotW or XCX, their files quickly grow (XCX is probably their largest: 23~ GB by default, and 33GB with the patches).
- Their games tend to be built around lower-spec hardware, so even when they need a lot of assets those assets are usually smaller.
- The size of their games matter more. Their consoles come with very limited amounts of in-built storage, and now on the Switch they have an active financial incentive to make their games smaller. PS4, X1, and PC developers don't have these worries. Some make games with crap tons of high quality assets, some sacrifice file size efficiency in flavor of other direct benefits (e.g. softer compression = better audio, quicker load times), and some just don't care enough to find a good balance.

Naw, a game like Mario Kart 8 benefits from being available without swapping carts. Though I suppose less so on this console than other, less portable ones.

Simple textures and sparse dialogue (the bulk of other games' size, along with prerecorded video in some cases). Compare it to XCX.

Not bad. I'm getting physical though b/c of the Amazon 20% discount.

I'm sure I'll get an SD card eventually, but I still mostly plan on buying games physically for a number of reasons.