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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Are game file sizes getting too large?

LegitHyperbole said:
Chazore said:

File size compression is becoming a lost art with modern game dev.

Also doesn't help that not everyone on the planet has blazing fast, uncapped net, let alone for a decent price. I've got the storage for games, but when it comes to AAA, I am now having to uninstall games that grow too large (like Sea of Thieves, a game that has outgrown WoW's install size, and is catching up to ESO's filesize).

There are games like Titanfall 2 that simply dump all audio language files upon the user, even if they do not speak all those additional languages. We're also seeing games follow Capcom's approach, where you have to download mb and gigs worth of DLC, content you still do not yet own, but is locked away on your own console/PC, and none of it was by choice of the user, but by the publisher, which I feel is unfair to just drop on the user, to occupy user file space and then ask for money to unlock said downloaded files on your own system.

Live service games are also taking the mickey by expecting you to download gigs worth of updates, like SoT, where you're mostly downloading cosmetic items you buy from the Pirate emporium for real money, onto your system. I dread booting up Steam and seeing an update from Rare every few weeks, because I know it's going to be yet another 8-10gb "update" that does barely anything for me. 

Well, I suppose we have to be thankful the trend from a few years ago of wiping the game and making the gamer download nearly the full file again over and over like with Overwatch on ps4. That one was rough. 

Oh it gets worse.

I recently downloaded a new update for Elder Scrolls Online, and it made me redownload 90gb, basically the whole game again, and there are some indie games on Steam that do the same, just so they can repack and unpack the games back again on your drive.

Thankfully there are some game devs that look back on their games and manage to work some magic into trimming down their game's file size, and I honestly wish more studios were doing that.

Also Ubisoft was an ass to me when I downloaded Creed Black flag on Steam, booted up the game, only to be told by U(Can't)Play, that I needed to download the game on their client as well. I did , but then it turned out I had 2 file folders of the same game, both taking up double the space, and deleting either of them meant I couldn't play the game I bought on Steam...



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I also need an extra ssd.



LegitHyperbole said:
Norion said:

Forza Horizon 4 was 94.5GB and FH5 is currently 175 and getting slightly closer to 200 every month so it is definitely getting a bit much since FH6 could end up over 250. There have been recent advancements in keeping file sizes down though so at least the rate of increase has slowed down lately.

All because of the inner detail in cockpit view I'd reckon. GTA7 is ballooning in the same way, a few cars release and it's another few gb but they managed to get the ps5 version compressed to i89gb over the ps4s 110 gb so there is something to Sony hardware saying that file sizes would reduce this gen but it seems devs are lazy.

Yeah 5 has close to 900 cars now and is still getting some new ones every month so that alone is adding a lot of extra data over time. It might reach over 1000 by the end and 6 should for sure have over 1k so over 200GB for that seems guaranteed at the very least. For the devs part Call of Duty isn't as outrageous with space as it was a few years ago so that's something.



Norion said:
LegitHyperbole said:

All because of the inner detail in cockpit view I'd reckon. GTA7 is ballooning in the same way, a few cars release and it's another few gb but they managed to get the ps5 version compressed to i89gb over the ps4s 110 gb so there is something to Sony hardware saying that file sizes would reduce this gen but it seems devs are lazy.

Yeah 5 has close to 900 cars now and is still getting some new ones every month so that alone is adding a lot of extra data over time. It might reach over 1000 by the end and 6 should for sure have over 1k so over 200GB for that seems guaranteed at the very least. For the devs part Call of Duty isn't as outrageous with space as it was a few years ago so that's something.

I'd nearly buy an S for Forza alone but it would take up half the space on it. I just check GT7 on PS5, the space you need make is 210 gb. Mind blowing. 



BraLoD said:

I also need an extra ssd.

If you do, do you have to replace the old SSD or is there a slot for an extra SSD?



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LegitHyperbole said:
BraLoD said:

I also need an extra ssd.

If you do, do you have to replace the old SSD or is there a slot for an extra SSD?

For PS5 like any PS console since PS3 additional slot. Not sure where it is on slim but probably similar to a regular PS5. Take off a side plate. Unscrew a thing and put in the SSD.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Leynos said:
LegitHyperbole said:

If you do, do you have to replace the old SSD or is there a slot for an extra SSD?

For PS5 like any PS console since PS3 additional slot. Not sure where it is on slim but probably similar to a regular PS5. Take off a side plate. Unscrew a thing and put in the SSD.

Oh nice one. That solves the issue, I thought you had to have a HDD and swap things back and forth. Damn, they are expensive little things though. 😳 



LegitHyperbole said:
Leynos said:

For PS5 like any PS console since PS3 additional slot. Not sure where it is on slim but probably similar to a regular PS5. Take off a side plate. Unscrew a thing and put in the SSD.

Oh nice one. That solves the issue, I thought you had to have a HDD and swap things back and forth. Damn, they are expensive little things though. 😳 

Cheaper than the Xbox solution. I don't know the conversation from dollars to pounds or euro but 1TB goes on sale for 80 bucks or so. 2TB is just a little over 100 bucks SSD for PS5

Last edited by Leynos - on 29 October 2024

Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Games already take a lot of time and money to develop. Most aren't even finished at the time of release. Spending more time and money for optimization to create smaller file sizes likely isn't even being considered anymore.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

They need to package games on their own NVMe drives. You buy one, plug it in to the console, and run your game.

I propose we call this new storage medium something that rolls off the tongue more readily than "NVMe." Something like, oh, say, "cartridges."