The download size of Stellar Blade may be in the ballpark of 35GB, as suggested by one newly emerged leak. Although the source of the claim seems to be a prematurely revealed official estimate, that's quite a modest figure for a contemporary AAA game, to the point that some fans have already expressed skepticism about whether Stellar Blade could truly end up being so small.

Software install sizes have gotten bulkier over the years, with video games being no exception to that trend. The steady increase in standard display resolutions and content expectations, among other factors, has led to the gaming industry consistently putting out bigger and bigger downloads. As far as Sony's latest console is concerned, the largest PS5 games by file sizes range from the 99GB Horizon Forbidden West to the absolutely humongous Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which requires over 312GB of storage space.

The PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade should be a far cry from those figures, according to its Japanese retail box which surfaced online over the final weekend of February. The packaging, shared by Twitter user Genki_JPN, states that the game requires "more than 35GB" of free storage space to install. That notice is ostensibly a rough estimate, as the game itself is still some two months out, slated for release on April 26. But even if Stellar Blade ends up warranting a larger install size than what its box suggests, this development is a fairly strong indicator that the game will be much more compact than a typical AAA release, like the 145GB Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth scheduled to hit the market in late February.

Here is the back of the box. It says it requires “more than 35GB” free storage capacity. It’s still early so it might not be final. Not sure. I was imagining the game will be around 50-60GB but we will have to wait and see! pic.twitter.com/bdkBRD3Eb7

— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) February 23, 2024

Fan reactions to this leak seem somewhat divided; some people interpreted the notice as a sign that Stellar Blade would have stellar file compression, while others expressed doubts about the feasibility of a modern AAA experience with high-fidelity graphics coming in such a small package.

Some fans speculated that the download size estimate could point to the game being a relatively short experience, but that shouldn't be the case when considering Shift Up's past statements on the matter. The most recent one comes from late 2023, when the developer reflected on Stellar Blade's latest delay. The occasion saw the game's director, Kim Hyung Tae, state that Stellar Blade would take between 25 and 50 hours to complete, depending on how thorough the player is.

Between that and Stellar Blade's impressive graphics, the upcoming title looks like it could easily weigh twice as much as its box states it will. Delivering anything close to the 35GB file size mentioned on the leaked packaging would ostensibly require Shift Up to either raise the bar for AAA game compression, employ some immensely clever asset reuse, or do both.

Posted: Mar 02, 2024 6:22 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/stellar-blade-ps5-download-install-size-leak/