The new Call of Duty update is huge,
but it's actually making the game
smaller.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's
latest update is, of course,
massive.
It contains all the new Season Five
updates, plus newly-optimized
assets that will actually make the
file size of the game—as a
whole—smaller.
On Twitter, Modern Warfare's
Production Director Paul Haile
explains that while the patch weighs
in at a hefty 36 gigabytes,
the optimized assets, which are
small, will replace older ones,
which are big.
Thus the overall size of the game
will shrink after the update is
applied.
Developer Infinity Ward did not
state exactly how small the game
will be after the update.
So let's break down how much space
you actually need to play
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
To get the game installed, which
includes all of the previous
patches, you'll need at least to 200
gigabytes of free space.
Likely more to even initiate the
install. Then you'll need at least
90 gigabytes free to install the
latest Season Five patch.
Yes, the patch has only 36
gigabytes, but to initiate the
install, it requires 90 gigabytes
free. And this is across all
available platforms.
Some better news if you just want to
play the free Warzone mode: it's
only around one hundred gigabytes
for the install, plus the
aforementioned 36 gigabytes for
the patch.
And for you gamers looking ahead
to next gen, expect massive
100 gigabyte install sizes to
be the norm in the future.
Maybe not right away, but as 4K TV's
and monitors get inside more homes,
games will require higher resolution
assets.
If they're not optimized properly or
if the tech just demands that
high-res assets have large file
sizes, we're going to see a lot
more games demanding 100 gigabytes
or more of free space just for the
install. So what's the long term
solution?
Probably bigger hard drive space.
IGN user DynamicDelta said, quote,
So what do you think that the
minimum storage space for games
should be? One terabyte?
Two terabytes?
Let us know in the comments below
and we'll see you on the next IGN Now.
