Halo Infinite and most other next-gen games may have an “infinitely” large file size to download, if one developer is to be believed. Ryan Shah, CEO and Lead Programmer of KITATUS and Friends told WCCF Tech that he believes that Unreal Engine 5 could make massive file sizes—as we have seen with Call of Duty: Warzone—the new normal, if developers don’t find a way to around the existing problem.
Game sizes have been increasing over the last five years, regularly crossing the threshold of 100 GB, a size that was long considered infeasible. Call of Duty players are all-too-familiar with the memes and lamentations surrounding the ridiculous magnitudes of Warzone patches. Unfortunately, Ryan Shah doesn’t see the problem getting any better with the release of the next-gen consoles.
When WCCF Tech asked, Ryan what he thought of Unreal Engine 5 as an existing developer, he had this to say:
While game sizes may be increasing, the internal memory of the next-gen consoles doesn’t appear to be scaling with them, with rumors that both consoles will be limited to 1 TB or less. The good news is, it looks like Microsoft (at least) has taken this into account and has been working toward making its hardware more compatible with Unreal Engine 5’s power. In addition to that, senior engineer Graham Wihlidal is aware of the concerns, and they seem to have a solution in mind.
It looks absolutely fantastic. Especially the Nanite system for a start, I had to scoop my jaw up off the floor after that. It takes a lot of the headache out of asset creation, but at the same time, it starts to raise more concerns. And one of the examples is Call of Duty Warzone at the minute, as people are harassing Activision over the size of Call of Duty Warzone. And I think when we’ve got technologies now in the Unreal Engine 5 that allow us to use the original source meshes, with the original source textures and everything like that, the game file sizes are going to have to skyrocket which presents a unique set of challenges.
The demand for better graphics, more immersive worlds, and all-around upgrades to gaming aren’t slowing down, as evidenced by the hoopla surrounding the Halo Infinite trailer during Xbox’s Game Showcase. However, we don’t yet know what game sizes are going to look like when the consoles launch during the holidays.
While download size is a concern for the way we currently interact with games, (buying physical or digital copies and installing them to the physical memory of the console) Microsoft appears to be way ahead of the curve with their major push towards Game Pass Ultimate. While it’s only speculation at this point, it’s not a far leap to assume that Xbox is headed toward a future where file size can be mitigated with the use of cloud services and streamed games.
Source: WCCF Tech
