Summary
With less than a month to go until the release ofStarfield, it is safe to say that excitement is growing within the game’s community. Bethesda has made a point to stress the immense scope of the game’s numerous planets, painting an image of one of the most expansive Bethesda titles to ever release.
AsStarfieldis nearly ready to launch, many of the more intimate details of the title are now publicly available, such as its download size. To give some direct context as to howStarfieldshapes up to the likes ofSkyrim, a comparison between the two download sizes of the releases can offer a lot of important insight.
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The reporteddownload size ofStarfieldseems to properly reflect Bethesda’s claims of a huge scale. It has been confirmed thatStarfield’s download size will be 125GB, meaning players may need to make room on their hard drives for the hugely anticipated release.
This download size is not all that surprising when considering howStarfieldwill reportedly boast over 1000 explorable planetsthat are spread across 100 solar systems. With these planets being a mix of procedurally generated and handcrafted, it can be assumed that a huge bulk of the game’s download size will be down to the high level of exploration thatStarfieldoffers.
Starfieldwill be available to preload for pre-ordering fans as soon as August 9, which is a smart move considering recent comparable releases. For example,Baldur’s Gate 3launched without preload availability, leading to a surge of release-day downloads that wreaked havoc with Steam’s servers. Although many AAA releases break the 100GB mark nowadays, it can be useful to look back at the download sizes of Bethesda’s past defining releases, withSkyrimperhaps offering the best comparison.
It is expected thatSkyrimhas a much smaller download size thanStarfield, with the game having been released over a decade ago. The original 2011 base game ofSkyrimsits at around a humble 4 GB, with this file size increasing slightly with the many re-releases that the game later experienced.
TheSpecial Edition ofSkyrimcomparatively sits at around 22GB on consoles, boasting a greater scale of content and increased graphical fidelity. Within its original form, around 30Skyrim’s could fit withinStarfieldin terms of their download sizes, showcasing a huge gulf in scale between the two releases. Even inSkyrim’s most content-packed form with the Special Edition,Starfield’s download size is still close to six times larger.
Skyrimcontinues to impress to this day with its amount of content and scale of exploration, still commanding a sizable community of dedicated players. With it being claimed thatStarfield’s total playable area will be thousands of times larger than that ofSkyrim’s, it is clear to see whyStarfieldhas such lofty expectations surrounding itin the run-up to its release. This fact almost makes the download size difference between both titles seem closer than expected, even ifStarfieldboasts a much heftier file size overall.
With some individual planets reportedly being larger thanSkyrim’s entire map, it is hard to fully appreciate and understand the kind of scope thatStarfieldis aiming to portray. The difference in download size between the base versions of both titles is the best way to physically represent this difference in scale beforeStarfieldreleases, with the comparison showcasing a staggering change between the titles.
Starfieldlaunches September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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