While not necessarily so much of a problem when the PS4 initially launched, it’s hardly any secret that over the last few years game file sizes have started to increase quite significantly. I mean, anyone who has Call of Duty Modern Warfare currently installed will certainly be acutely aware of this (203GB as it squats on my SSD). As such, presuming you are still playing your existing console, you might find that new gaming releases require a little data management or, in other instances, the purchase of an external storage device.
Following a report via CNET, however, with file data sizes being revealed for some PS5 games, it seems that the 850GB storage the console is provided with may be set to get very quickly gobbled up. In other words, it’s rather fortunate that the system is going to come with an NVMe M.2 expansion port because, quite frankly, it seems likely that you’ll need it and possibly within the first year of owning the system!
PS5 Game Files Sizes
In the report, two confirmed upcoming PS5 game files sizes have been revealed. These include:
- Demon’s Souls (2020) – 66GB
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Launch Edition – 105GB
With just these two games having the potential to quickly gobble up at least 20% of the total storage offered on the base console (and likely even more with patches and updates), it seems pretty clear that while 850GB may seem like a lot, for 2020 onwards, it’s honestly barely enough!
What Do We Think?
Thankfully, the PS5 will come with an NVMe M.2 storage option which should offer super-fast file transfer speeds and, in terms of installation, should be within the easy reach of the vast majority of owners. Make no bones about it though, with just these two games already eating up 20% (and lord knows how much the new Call of Duty is going to take up!) it seems pretty much guaranteed that unless you whip through your games library pretty quickly, the 850GB storage the PS5 is sold with simply isn’t going to cut the mustard for very long!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
The average game attach rate for the PS4 was 11 games, over a few years. Obviously this covers those who buy a select few games, and those that live on the console and have dozens (these people are going to be spending big).
If the games are all 66GB, like Demon Souls, then I can see all 11 fitting on the 825GB SSD, assuming the system software and other installed apps (Netflix, iPlayer, etc) don’t take up more than 100GB.
But Demon Souls is a remaster, and its size might not reflect a truly modern game. I suspect that average PS5 game size might be twice that, 120GB (although that is larger than the UHD BluRay disc, so maybe it’s 100GB for most). Maybe six could be installed at this size. Hopefully this will take long enough that prices drop on the PS5 SSD expansions – a 1TB M2 will be a lot cheaper in 2022 (hopefully!). The big PS5 gamers will need a 2TB in due course, but the same would apply on the proprietary XSX storage cards which may not drop in price much, being proprietary.