Why Games Take Up Far More Drive Space Than Expected
Game sizes have grown sharply, and patches, language packs, shader caches and screenshots add even more. Some data also remains after a game is uninstalled.
The drive space used by PC and console games has grown considerably, and the real footprint often exceeds the figure shown in a digital store. Technology site Engadget explains why this happens and how to free up room on gaming PCs and consoles such as the PlayStation 5.
From 100 MB to 40 GB
The original Tomb Raider on PC asked for about 100 MB of storage, while the base game of Shadow of the Tomb Raider needs 40 GB, roughly 400 times more. The size listed in stores covers only the base game. Patches, downloadable content (DLC) and other extras come on top, and the Steam platform treats DLC a player owns as part of the game.
Publishers also deliver large amounts of data in day-one patches. On PlayStation 4, Fallout 76 had a 54 GB day-one patch on top of a 45 GB base install, and Ubisoft told players of The Division 2 on Xbox One and PC to expect a 48–52 GB first update.
What fills space quietly
Individual patches are usually small, but they accumulate. While applying a patch, Steam builds the new version of the files before deleting the old ones, so it temporarily needs much more free space. Language packs can contain whole extra copies of a game's dialogue, and Steam lets developers make them optional.
Shader caches (pre-compiled data that helps games run smoothly) and screenshots also take up room. In Astro Bot, the PS5 saves a screenshot and short clip for every trophy earned; the game has 63 trophies, meaning 63 videos. Sony's settings allow these to be turned off, and they can be deleted in the Media Gallery.
What stays after uninstalling
When a game is uninstalled, Steam removes the game files but not everything the game created. Saves and settings often remain in folders such as Documents, My Games or AppData, the shader cache stays in steamapps/shadercache, and mods or crash dumps may linger. Saves are deliberately left so progress isn't lost on reinstall. Cleanup is mostly manual; players should first check for Steam Cloud support or back up their saves.
More to come
Grand Theft Auto VI is a notable example: the PS5 version is reportedly listed on the PlayStation Store with a 210 GB download, though Rockstar has not confirmed it. On a base PS5 with about 667 GB of usable space, that would take nearly a third of the drive.
