Game installs of 100GB or larger have now become the standard

In brief: While powerful graphics cards are becoming an increasingly important component for PC gamers, the big releases we’ve seen this year suggest that a large-capacity SSD would be a more sensible buy. It’s starting to look as if 100GB titles have become the standard, and that could be a problem for some people.

As noted by PC Gamer, the recent launch of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor marks another game that many buyers will spend hours downloading. Its 130GB file size makes it the largest PC title released this year. This is a trend that’s become not just annoying for those with slower internet connections but a pain for anyone with limited storage space.

The most recent Steam survey shows that just under half the participants have more than 1TB of drive space, followed by 23.18% with 250GB to 499GB and 14.62% with 750GB to 999GB. Those in that second category are going to find themselves deleting a lot of their drive content in order to play some of this year’s biggest releases. In addition to Jedi: Survivor, there’s been Forspoken (120GB), Redfall (100GB), The Last of Us Part 1 (100GB), and Atomic Heart (90GB). It’s also interesting to note that most participants only have 100GB to 249GB free space on their drives.

Games have been gobbling up more drive space for a while now. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s infamous 200+GB size led to people buying an SDD just for that one title – before players were able to remove game modes they didn’t need. Borderlands 3: The Directors Cut reaches 135GB, Red Dead Redemption is 120GB, and Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition clocks in at 110GB. Don’t expect things to change, either: another 90GB will also be required for Diablo 4, while the final release of Baldur’s Gate 3 is said to hit 150GB.

According to Steam, the average American downloads games at 12MB per second, meaning a 150GB title would take 3 hours and 28 minutes to download. And say a prayer for any users who have a data cap.

Beyond deleting and installing all the time, it seems buying a large SSD is the best solution to an issue that isn’t going away. You could always subscribe to GeForce Now Ultimate, but that comes with plenty of caveats.