A decade or so ago, having games that required more than 10 GB or 15 GB on your hard drive was not that common, unless it was a large AAA title.
But these days, you have titles like Ark: Survival Evolved that requires close to 300GB to install, or the latest Call of Duty games that need 200 GB at the very least. It's clear that game sizes have exploded, not to mention you also need an SSD for many of these games to run smoothly. Why are these games so large?
Games are much more detailed these days
One of the main culprits when it comes to the game's file size has to be the amount of detail. With resolutions becoming higher and higher, like 4K, that means a lot more detail needs to go into visuals. Texture files are a lot more complex, and they will require more space. Sure, there's compression for textures, but with tens of thousands of textures that are highly detailed, space does add up quite a bit.
Since we expect more complexity and details when it comes to visuals, it's easy to see why textures are very complex. While some gamers complain when it comes to the game file size, it's easy to dismiss the fact that we also expect amazing visuals. Obviously, the texture file size will always increase when you need more details.
Games are also much more expansive
Of course, that's not the case for every title. But in general, games that require a lot of space also tend to have lots of stuff to offer. Many of these create very large maps, open worlds that you can explore the way you want.
They are filled with detail, and they can take dozens and dozens of hours sometimes. Having an expansive, large game world will always push the boundaries, and it certainly gives a unique sense of scale. All of that adds up space-wise.
There is a lot more assets now
Many times, assets like geometry data, images, and audio will also eat up quite a bit of space. Sure, it might not be as much as textures, but those will add up. They are working with video assets too, and as we know, videos can eat up lots of space. We know that even in the past, some of the larger games were video-heavy.
Even if there are compression methods, we still end up with extremely large assets, and those increase the total amount of space you need for a game.
Many games are starting to focus on constant updates and live service features
Aside from the initial size of the game and the content that it has, we also need to realize that a lot of games receive constant updates and content. Ark wasn't as large at first, but it received multiple new maps and DLC.
Those did add up quite a bit when it comes to the storage requirements. And that's the case with Fortnite and Apex Legends, but also many ongoing games like Rainbow Six: Siege.
Games that receive constant updates and new content will obviously increase their storage requirements on your device. It might not be an issue at first, but eventually, most of these games can surpass 50 GB or even 100 GB.
Should we be worried?
As gamers, the best thing to do right now is to invest in fast, and also expansive storage.
Clearly, 1 TB is not enough if you want to play the latest games, considering that GTA and ARK alone will eat up around half of your storage space. Also, investing in an SSD is ideal for gaming since a lot of the newer games will benefit from the faster storage.
The more detailed games are, the more space we will need to offer on our devices; that's a guarantee. And, as we can see, games will only get more and more detailed in the years to come!
