The Biggest PC Games By File Size

For those who, for one reason or another, consider consoles to be an inconvenience, PCs are one of the best things to happen to gaming since the turn of the century. And why wouldn’t they be? Every day, gaming rigs that obliterate traditional gaming consoles in performance are mass-produced and there is the existence of laptops that can be conveniently carried around for the gamer on the go. But PC gaming is not all roses and sunshine; one of the drawbacks of the controversial platform is the massive size of game files, many of which must be downloaded, especially here in the age of digital distribution.

Some of the PC games with the largest file sizes can be a downright pain to run for players who try their hardest to make some space on their drives for these titles. As long as players are assured that they’ll have a great time playing the titles of their choice, there’s no denying that these games will be worth installing, even if the space they occupy can be downright mind-blowing at times.

Updated November 26, 2024, by Hamza Haq: PC games have been steadily increasing in size since the inception of the industry, and that trend doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. Hyper-realistic graphics, high-resolution textures, or poor optimization, there are a lot of factors that go into making a game size large. For most modern PC games, it’s easy to see the reason behind their large file size, but that’s not always the case. Three additional PC games with large file sizes have been added to the list.

25 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (HD Texture Packs Included)

100 GB

Rainbow Six: Siege has come a long way since it was first released back in 2015. The game has undergone countless reworks and updates, adding a variety of maps, operators, and features. Ubisoft continues to build Siege up as it seems that the game will only continue to get bigger going forward.

Siege’s HD texture packs aren’t exactly the straw that breaks the camel’s back when it comes to total installation size. The game is big enough without them thanks to all the maps and operators, but including the HD textures beefs up its total install size considerably.

24 Destiny 2: Lightfall

102 GB

Destiny 2: Lightfall is a first-person shooter game that needs no introduction. Players get to explore the planet of Neptune and everything it has to offer, making for a fresh and engaging setting that fans will have a great time with.

Despite the moon having been used as a location previously in the series, the game features several innovations such as with the Player Versus Player (PvP) and Player Versus Environment (PvE) matches. The addition of new destinations, guns, and artifacts also helps to make gameplay more varied.

23 Gears Of War 4

103 GB

Being able to look through the scope of a gun while shooting has its charm, but there is something special about actually getting to see the playable character during the action. Gears of War 4 is one of the many third-person shooter games to capture the sentiment perfectly.

With amazing mechanics that render gameplay seamlessly enjoyable, the game’s plot also threatens to engage the emotions of players by centering on a protagonist from the earlier games in the series, Marcus Fenix, passing on the mantle of badassery to his son, JD, and his two friends, Kait and Del.

22 Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

110 GB

The announcement of the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition was something that took both old and new fans by storm. Commander Shepard’s story is one of the most memorable in gaming, and having the opportunity to explore it all once again with updated visuals was a treat indeed.

If there’s one thing that the Legendary Edition taught gamers, it is that texture packs can take up a ton of space. This collection might have all three games, but 110 GB is still a massive install size for any title.

21 Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3

112 GB

Easily one of the more popular titles in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. Upon its release in 2015, the game was met with much positive acclaim, especially for the Zombies mode which proved to be especially difficult.

Its multiplayer mode also provides an unprecedented level of exhilaration with the array of ten soldiers it presents to players, all of whom possess one unique weapon or ability that makes them more lethal than the last.

20 Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

125 GB

It was only a matter of time before another Call of Duty game would make its way into this list. After all, each and every game in the series is notorious for having an unrealistically massive download size.

This is the case for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War as well. The entire game takes a whopping 125 GB on a person’s hard drive, which is simply ridiculous since developers should be responsible for optimizing their games on PC. The worst part is that this tweaked file size comes after optimization patches, with the size of the game upon release being 250 GB!

19 Gears 5

127 GB

Released in 2019, Gears 5 took The Coalition’s franchise in a new direction by incorporating a less linear playstyle. While not adopting a typical open world, the campaign eventually opens up and allows players to explore more so than usual. This change was generally received well, and the same could be said for the overall game.

Considering that the next Gears of War game will probably use Unreal Engine 5, the install size should easily eclipse its predecessor.

18 Microsoft Flight Simulator

127 GB

It might sound like a niche genre, but flight simulators tend to be some of the most detailed games on the market. Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the most impressive titles within the genre to date, with its keen attention to detail and focus on realism making it a huge game overall.

The game’s standard edition comes with more than 20 types of aircraft players can pilot, with the deluxe and premium deluxe editions adding in five and ten additional aircraft respectively.

17 Black Myth Wukong

130 GB

Black Myth: Wukong took the world by storm on release, breaking record after record in terms of concurrent player count on Steam in a matter of days after its release, it clocked in at over 2 million players roughly 24 hours after it came out. As the most faithful recreation of the legendary Chinese story, Journey to the West to date, it’s no wonder it became as popular as it did.

Considering the breathtakingly gorgeous visuals, high-res textures, and particle effects infused into every single frame of this Action RPG, it’s a wonder the developers, Game Science, managed to condense the package into as little as 130 GB on launch. It’s one of those games players need only look at once to understand why the file size is as large as it is.

16 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare

133 GB

With the release of many remarkable games into the waiting hands of gamers, 2019 was a year that lived up to its hype. For many, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is one such game. Its campaign is placed in a modern setting, true to its name, and follows the unlikely alliance between a CIA officer, the British SAS, and Urzikstan rebels as they combat Russian invaders.

Realism remains the hallmark of this particular title as decisions that were once either absent or automatically made by the CPU are now left to players. Modern Warfare also features multiplayer and Special Ops mode.

15 Borderlands 3

135 GB

The Borderlands series is one that holds a special place in many gamers’ hearts. Borderlands 3 was one of the most anticipated titles of 2019, and though there were some noticeable technical hiccups, fans were happy with the overall product.

Though initially coming in at a 75 GB installation size, various DLCs and the Season Pass content are added to the current total. The “Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot”, “Guns, Love, and Tentacles”, “Bounty of Blood”, “Psycho Krieg” and the “Fantastic Fustercluck” DLCs give players hours worthy of additional Borderlands content, making the increase in file size well worth it for hardcore fans.

14 Halo: The Master Chief Collection

136.63 GB

Speaking of legendary sci-fi games that were repackaged and remastered for a whole new audience, it would be impossible to not talk about Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Xbox’s greatest mascot now has all its best games wrapped up in a neat bundle for players to check out.

Watching Master Chief tear through his opponents in the games present in this collection is a blast every single time… quite literally! However, the install size can be a problem for gamers who can’t free up this space without making some serious adjustments.

13 Starfield

140 GB

Bethesda’s latest action RPG has garnered a primarily positive reception, and if it is anything like the studio’s other high-profile releases, Starfield has an active and bright future ahead of it. Using procedurally-generated technology, the sci-fi game features a huge selection of planets that players can visit and set up a base on. There are also a couple of unique cities that players will need to visit to complete the main story and acquire most of the secondary content.

Starfield‘s ambition can be seen in its download size, which reflects its scope. Visually, the game looks good but is not necessarily an all-timer.

12 Final Fantasy 15

148 GB

The saviors of the land of Lucis in this title are not a rag-tag band of misfits like in a lot of its contemporary RPGs, but the long-time friends of Prince Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto.

Like its predecessors, the role-playing and open world of Final Fantasy 15 are more than enough to charm players. Along with this, the flashy melee combos of all four characters and the subtle details painstakingly carved into the game will keep players glued to their screens for hours on end. The base game on its own stands at 83GB in size but the addition of a high-resolution pack brings it to a total of 148GB.

11 Horizon: Forbidden West

150 GB

The latest chapter in the Horizon series may have failed to capture the sense of wonder and amazement that its predecessor absolutely nailed, but that shouldn’t take away anything from this excellent game that features the same dense open world and combat that fans fell in love with. It helps that this game’s much-awaited port on PC was a major success that received more of a boost after Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s poorly-received release on this platform.

Aloy’s journey is full of twists and turns, and it’s a shame that the writing couldn’t help this character shine even more. Still, the action-packed gameplay and fun exploration more than make this title worth going through, especially for players who loved what Guerrilla Games has crafted in this unique world.

10 Red Dead Redemption 2

150 GB

Following its announcement a while back and the massive success of its predecessors, the months leading up to the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 were filled with enthusiastic anticipation. It was eventually released in 2018 for various platforms and in November 2019 for Microsoft Windows.

Though delayed for PC gamers, exploration of the game has been anything but boring. From engaging in shootouts with rival gangs to executing daring heists and enjoying scenic rides on horseback, Red Dead Redemption 2 offers everything the Wild West had to offer and more.

9 Forspoken

150 GB

Square Enix has infamously handled its Western IPs horribly, and Forspoken is probably the last game funded by this publisher following the developer’s sale to Embracer Group. This attempt at making an isekai open-world title was marred with many issues stemming from its gameplay and writing, leading to a hot mess of a title that ended up underperforming across the board.

The traversal system of this game may be a blast, but it simply doesn’t do enough to justify players having to go through tedious story sequences and boring combat over and over again. Perhaps the biggest and most egregious mistake made by this game is the fact that it takes up a whopping 150 GB of space, which is simply ridiculous and goes to show how poorly optimized this game is, with the requirements for this game not justifying the drab and uninteresting visuals.

8 Baldur’s Gate 3

150 GB

Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3 spent a few years in early access, and that time was well spent as it produced one of the best tactical RPGs of all time. Set within the D&D universe, the game is overflowing with personality, depth, and nuance.

Players are given a lot of freedom in crafting a storyline that fits their created character, and while the central storyline’s main beats are fairly set in stone, the journey can change wildly depending on somebody’s choices. Baldur’s Gate 3‘s size reflects the sheer volume of content in the game, rather than its graphical prowess.

7 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

150 GB

Call of Duty games have long been notorious for boasting ridiculously large file sizes, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the latest in these installments, boasting the biggest file size by far. The reason for the unreasonably large download size is often cited by the devs as a necessary measure for using high-resolution textures, which is true to an extent. No, the real reason MW3 is so gigantic is because of the carry-forward features, which essentially subsume all of MW2 into itself, rebranded as CoD HQ as well as Warzone, creating a giant behemoth that eats up storage space like nothing else.

In a recent update, however, Activision Blizzard has addressed these issues by decoupling Warzone from Modern Warfare 3 to give players who aren’t interested in the Battle Royale a chance to reduce the burden on their SSDs. PC players will now have to set aside only 150 GB for the game, compared to the 215 GB it required previously. The file size is still massive by all metrics but not as unreasonably large as before.

6 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

155 GB

Another lazy PC port comes in the form of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a game that was hyped to the moon and back only for expectations to come crashing down after the horrible performance of the PC port. The title needed a strong launch to bring more eyes toward the series after the first game ended up being a surprise hit, but Star Wars Jedi: Survivor failed to convince players who owned a PC with its shoddy performance.

The fact that the game somehow requires around 150 GB of space feels like an insult, especially given its myriad of performance issues. Just like most other PC releases in 2023, fans can only wait and hope that bug fixes arrive quickly so that players don’t have to wait too long before experiencing the next chapter of Cal Kestis’s journey as a Jedi Knight.