Huge Games Prevent Mass Enjoyment

Developers have not shied away from huge initial installs for video games, and now GSC Game World pushes the boundary further with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 on PC coming out next year. The open-world survival FPS is set in a post-apocalyptic Chernobyl, and it demands 180 GB on an SSD as listed on the Microsoft STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl pre-order page. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is not the first to go well beyond 100 GB, and The Load Screen discusses the impact large titles have on gamers today.

It was only last year that Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War was infamous for having a comparable size to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, but that included a campaign, multiplayer, and zombie modes along with the HD texture packs. The file sizes were so problematic that Activision made headlines when they cut out 33 GB; see The Verge’s Activision shrinks Call of Duty file sizes article. That same year EA’s Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond received attention for the size of a VR game. Articles like Polygon’s Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond requires more than 173 GB of storage shows how even VR is not immune from the huge storage size trend.

So, should the chosen size by GSC Game World garner similar attention? Any developer using excessive storage requirements should consider what else a gamer could pack into that space, like the entire content of several games, including DLCs. Look at the recently updated Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition for PC on the Microsoft store, which gives over a hundred hours of playable content with next-gen graphics for 25.3 GB. That means over seven full versions of Skyrim Anniversary fit into the same room needed for one version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

Skyrim’s gameplay is literally over ten years old, and the recent update does little more than improve graphics while integrating existing content. However, if developers remade Skyrim at 180 GB size, thousands of hours of interesting content would fill the additional space if other parts remained unchanged. GSC Game World sets a huge standard if they under-deliver in content depth and quality of gameplay by comparison.

There is hope for console players looking forward to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 since the size is only 150 GB on the Microsoft store’s STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl Xbox page. In contrast, that is the same as Microsoft Flight Simulator, according to the Xbox Microsoft Flight Simulator page, which gives players the entire world to fly. On the other hand, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 gives gamers high-quality environments from Chernobyl, not entire continents or full cities.

Xbox Series S owners who have both S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator better hope there are no big updates since they will be left with 64 GB of space for everything else! The Series S only has 364 GB of usable storage as listed in The Verge Xbox Series S review, leaving little room for anything else. If that Series S user also wants COD Warzone, look forward to purchasing a Seagate Expansion Card for the 450+ GB space of the three games.

Bigger game sizes present a barrier for gamers on a budget, since maintaining enough storage for additional games gets costly fast. There is the option of constantly deleting and redownloading huge games, but that might leave little network bandwidth for playing any games. Some titles do not require SSD and are playable from portable drives, but storage is only possible for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. There are risks associated with transferring huge files, including power issues like accidentally disconnecting the device early.

Another factor to look at in such a large install is what other content GSC Game World plans to provide within their new title. The developers have teamed up with an NFT marketplace called DMarket for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Metaverse, where three “meta human” auction winners will become in-game NPCs. Each of these characters will come from high res captures that require some space, but the implication of the Metaverse means tons of individual cosmetics for purchase as well. This ensures complicated skins with bigger game files that every player must have those NFT related items clogging up space. Even if the gamer never purchases a single cosmetic, they still are forced into downloading all the files to play anyway.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has the potential to be a fun horror explorer FPS, but will it be worth the size especially considering it contains NFTs? If the game fails to have a smooth launch and it still sees record sales, developers have a license to further abuse players’ storage space. How long before a single game fills an entire Xbox Series S? If the trend continues, it could be as soon as 2023.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S

• Developer: GSC Game World

• Publisher:  GSC Game World

• Expected Release Date: 4/28/2022