Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is coming for your disk space

[onetheycallEric]

WTF?! Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's install size is reportedly ballooning so much that it no longer fits on smaller 250GB SSDs. Game install sizes in general have been moving up over the years, but even for the most insatiable of games, 250GB of required disk space seems excessive.

And while Call of Duty games have never exactly been shy with its storage demands -- upon launch Modern Warfare commanded a massive 175GB of installation space, topping the 150GB requirement of Red Dead Redemption 2 -- Call of Duty's ravenous appetite for storage will have to be addressed at some point.

The crux of the issue, it seems, is the way Call of Duty: Modern Warfare essentially bundles three games: the single-player campaign, the cooperative Special Ops mode, and the online battle royale mode, Warzone.

@CallofDuty MW nolonger fits onto a 250GB SSD and cannot be updated.....@Activision @Blizzard_Ent please split up SP, MP and Warzone. pic.twitter.com/pSZdlSldvK

— Battle(non)sense (@BattleNonSense) October 3, 2020

Console players have more granular control over install sizes, being able to uninstall certain modes. However, PC versions of newer Call of Duty games are bound to Blizzard's Battle.net launcher, and as Twitter and YouTube user @BattleNonSense points out, PC players aren't afforded the same options.

Exacerbating the issue further are the routine patches that not only continue to inflate the game size, but also force players to sit out and download patches that are often in the tens of gigabytes.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War right around the corner, it'll be interesting to see how sustainable these kinds of storage needs are, and if Raven Software and Treyarch have noticed the outcry. As Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has grown in size, many users have already dedicated entire SSDs to the game.

Call of Duty - Size from r/modernwarfare

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86973-call-duty-modern-warfare-coming-disk-space.html

 

[candle_86]

Devs have gotten lazy and stopped using compression

 

[winjer]

Now consider that the PS5 only has 660 GB to install games.
Soon enough gamers can install only CoD and a couple of indie games.

 

[Adi6293]

1TB SSD are so cheap now that this shouldn't be an issue to any PC Gamer

 

[Endymio]

1TB SSD are so cheap now that this shouldn't be an issue to any PC Gamer

1TB / 250GB = 4. What of gamers who play more than 4 games? Given average SSD prices, the install size is essentially an additional $25 tax on top on each game.

Now consider that the PS5 only has 660 GB to install games.
Soon enough gamers can install only CoD and a couple of indie games.

If Activision can increase the size a bit more, they'll achieve the goal of being able to install CoD only and nothing else.

 

[Adi6293]

1TB / 250GB = 4. What of gamers who play more than 4 games? Given average SSD prices, the install size is essentially an additional $25 tax on top on each game.

If Activision can increase the size a bit more, they'll achieve the goal of being able to install CoD only and nothing else.

If you play more than 4 games you buy 2TB SSD, those are cheap too. If you don't like the prices you can get a HDD, they cost pennies or change hobby

I've seen 2TB Sata 3 SSD for as little as £150 on deals, that might not be cheap but it's definitely affordable for anyone who is buying an mid range and higher PC

 

[Mister_K]

"Don't get me wrong, game is awesome and looks amazing but the size to harddrive ratio is insane."

Amazing? Really overstretching it there bud.

Anyway games will get bigger, while I agree that the size for a game like CoD is ridiculous, game sizes will get bigger, so people need to learn to deal with it.

 

[gigantor21]

1TB SSD are so cheap now that this shouldn't be an issue to any PC Gamer

I know. I have one.

That doesn't make this any less stupid.

 

[Lionvibez]

Now consider that the PS5 only has 660 GB to install games.
Soon enough gamers can install only CoD and a couple of indie games.

How did you come across this number?

 

[candle_86]

1TB SSD are so cheap now that this shouldn't be an issue to any PC Gamer

That's a stupid argument, game devs are lazy, look at something like crysis, it looked amazing but didn't need massive amounts of disk space because they used compression. The fact is game devs are to lazy to use the most basic form of compression these days. Modern Warfare should take maybe 20gb if they used compression there is no need for every asset to be uncompressed period.

 

[fps4ever]

1TB SSD are so cheap now that this shouldn't be an issue to any PC Gamer

I bet hardware makers and game publishers love people like you.

 

[Ultraman1966]

1TB SSD are so cheap now that this shouldn't be an issue to any PC Gamer

I have 2x 1TB SSDs but this is still ridiculous because every time they push an update it wasting a lot of writes. I've had several instances over the past year when they forced me to redownload almost 180GB or more. All I wanted to do was play the SP but because they force you to store all the warzone crap, it just gets bigger and bigger.

 

[m4a4]

That's a stupid argument, game devs are lazy, look at something like crysis, it looked amazing but didn't need massive amounts of disk space because they used compression. The fact is game devs are to lazy to use the most basic form of compression these days. Modern Warfare should take maybe 20gb if they used compression there is no need for every asset to be uncompressed period.

If you think they're not using compression, you're fooling yourself. They have far more unique textures than you seem to be aware of. Play the game first, you'll see that Warzone, SP, and the dozens of unique, high detail maps are the main reason why the game takes up so much space.

 

[dangh]

Now consider that the PS5 only has 660 GB to install games.
Soon enough gamers can install only CoD and a couple of indie games.

Now consider that xss have around 330 GB to install games...

 

[trparky]

And until the gamers unite and say to these developers that we won't buy your game as long as you chow down on our precious SSD disk space, the developers won't learn anything.

 

[m4a4]

Also, the reddit embed for Dark Mode needs an update.

 

[ExReey]

It's probably a 20GB game with 170GB of copy protection files.

 

[m4a4]

Now consider that xss have around 330 GB to install games...

From what MS is saying, XSS will have it's install sizes down because you don't need those 4K textures and high poly models.
More complexity for devs, but at least it shouldn't be as ridiculous...

 

[onetheycallEric]

Also, the reddit embed for Dark Mode needs an update.

View attachment 87119

Yeah, this is something we're talking about right now. Hopefully we'll have a fix for it soon.

 

[Lounds]

Has anyone ever considered that IW have looked at the current gen consoles and Steam hardware survey and made the decision to not compress as much due to data streaming and the cpu load that causes?

 

[franticfrosty]

For those wondering about the games compression: https://gamerant.com/modern-warfare-fan-file-size-big-why/

Now, The devs could do better, yes, but that should be an option to be honest, compress them a buttload to begin with so downloading is easier than decompress them (if user wants for added performance).

The solution to the big sizes is pretty simple but requires a LOT of work, Would be good if we could figure out a new compression/decompression method or algorithm.

 

[texasrattler]

At this point does it even matter? Its simply a hot mess. The game itself is so unoptimized its becoming a joke. 250GB and the game struggles with a i7 9700K and a 1070. 16 GB of memory, game eating up 5-7K MB, equally 70% of the memory.

Modern Warzone is/has turned into a disaster. Love the game but its a mess.

 

[scavengerspc]

If anyone can help me with this but how do gamers with data restrictions from their ISP make gaming work?

 

[Adi6293]

I bet hardware makers and game publishers love people like you.

Maybe they do maybe they don't, I do have 2 x 1TB SATA SSD's in my cupboard as spare, I upgraded them to a singular 2TB m. 2 nvme SSD because it was reasonable cheap and it was 6 times faster than what I had. I don't buy a storage device and wait 10 years before I upgrade it. You see a good deal you buy and you don't worry about game sizes

 

[fps4ever]

Maybe they do maybe they don't, I do have 2 x 1TB SATA SSD's in my cupboard as spare, I upgraded them to a singular 2TB m. 2 nvme SSD because it was reasonable cheap and it was 6 times faster than what I had. I don't buy a storage device and wait 10 years before I upgrade it. You see a good deal you buy and you don't worry about game sizes

Me neither but I stick by my statement. The wisest and most economic move is to wait for BF sales, which seem to be the best time for pc hardware sales. I can wait a few months and generally have different pc parts to spend money on but you do you...