With each generation of video game consoles, games continue to get bigger and better. Worlds are teeming with detail, and continue to stretch beyond the horizon. Character models are intricately detailed, and the sheer amount of quests and content for players to work their way through has crept up into the hundreds of hours to complete. So here, we’re looking at the 10 biggest games of all time, ranked by their install size.
A quick note here, to save this from being a very repetitive list of Call of Duty titles, we’ve bundled most of those together and focused on the latest (and largest) entry, except for…
10. Call of Duty: Warzone – 95 GB
Yeah, that’s right, kicking off our list of enormous games is Call of Duty’s take on the popular Battle Royale genre, Warzone.
Having initially started off with just the one map – Verdansk – the game has since added in another, incorporated weapons from Black Ops Cold War, and even dropped zombies onto the map in recent weeks.
Now, you’re probably sat there thinking “Well shucks, 95 GB for a Battle Royale seems a little extreme,” and you’d be right to think that. Fortnite weighs in around 25 GB on a Series X, the same console where Warzone’s file size is 95 GB.
Once you load up Warzone and begin playing, though, it’s abundantly clear why. Warzone feels so fast and fluid to play, while always managing to remain gorgeous in the process. Even when a sniper’s trying to put bullets in your face, GORGEOUS!
Throw in the fact it’s a huge map with a ton of different weapons and loadouts to take into account and that 95 GB doesn’t seem quite so outrageous for what you get.
9. Elder Scrolls Online – 96.5 GB
Zenimax Online and Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls Online has come a long way since its release all the way back in 2014.
Thanks to an absolute ton of new expansions, DLC packs and quality of life updates, the game is still going strong today with plans to further expand the world in the coming years.
Even before expansions like Summerset and Morrowind rolled around, Elder Scrolls Online had a staggering amount of quests and content for players to sink their teeth into, so it’s no surprise its cemented its place on our list of biggest video game file sizes.
For those looking to immerse themselves in the Elder Scrolls universe, you’ll have to free up just shy of 100 GB on your system.
8. Forza Horizon 4 – 98.2 GB
Biggest Games Ranked by Install Size
Playground Games’ open-world Forza Horizon games have always been our preferred titles in the series over Turn10’s more serious track-based racing sim Motorsport titles.
Just because the Forza Horizon series is more arcadey and less serious than its Motorsport counterpart, doesn’t mean it’s slouching in terms of the content offered or visual fidelity.
Forza Horizon 4, in fact, is one of the prettiest games you can play on your Xbox Series X right now, with stunning native 4K visuals, silky smooth 60FPS, and the most detailed vehicle models in any racing game right now. You can even read the warning labels on the inside of doors!
The game was already giant enough, but the Fortune Island and LEGO Speed Champions expansions only bump that up further, to the point it’s now taking up 98.2 GB on the Series X. For the best racing game on the console, though, that’s a small price to pay.
7. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 – 112.2 GB
Another ‘live game’ makes the list in the form of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2. This looter shooter set following a deadly virus outbreak across the US has a sprawling map with an obscene amount of stuff to see and do on it.
For those that blast through the campaign, there’s plenty of end game content to grind out, and Ubisoft has recently announced that even more is on the way sometime this year.
It’s no surprise then that The Division 2’s managed to currently rack up a file size of 112.2 GB. The Warlords of New York expansion played a large part in this, adding new districts and story content, and overhauling a number of the game’s systems.
6. Gears 4 – 117 GB
Biggest Games Ranked by Install Size
Who’d have guessed that it’s not The Coalition’s most recent release in the Gears franchise that’d make this list, but Gears 4 instead.
Gears 4 was the first entry to shift the focus away from Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad, instead looking to Kait Diaz, Del and J.D. Fenix (Marcus’ son) to take the reigns of the series.
With the usual bombastic campaign, tactical multiplayer and some major changes to the fan-favorite Horde mode, Gears 4 could keep COG heads entertained for hundreds of hours.
Alas, all of those chainsaw bayonets and Boomshots come at a cost to your hard drive space. Gears 4’s 117 GB file size is a whole 24 GB larger than Gears 5‘s on a Series X, but it does still look mighty good to this day!
5. Halo: The Master Chief Collection – 125.9 GB
Given the sheer amount of content The Master Chief Collection packs in, its 125.9 GB file size is actually fairly palatable.
You’re getting Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach and Halo 4 all with a number of visual improvements and the multiplayer modes packed-in for good measure.
If you’re running an Xbox Series X, it’s possible to experience Master Chief’s various adventures in up to 4K resolutions at 120 FPS.
Reduced load times, adjustable FOV, and split-screen make it the complete package for any Halo fan, and with new Seasons bringing more cosmetics for multiplayer fans, the 126 GB is a worthwhile sacrifice for all that content.
4. Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition – 148 GB
Biggest Games Ranked by Install Size
Noctis and the lads made their way to PC with Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition back in 2019. The Windows Edition of the title included the base game, plus all four of its separate DLCs, enhanced visuals and improved performance (as you’d expect from a PC port).
To be precise, it’s high-res 4K textures, HDR compatibility and ultra high graphics options. You’ll also get all of the DLC and bonus items, as well as a handful of refinements since the title’s original release on consoles.
All of those tasty 4K dishes you’ve been cooking up at camp take up some serious space on your system, with the Windows Edition taking up 148 GB. Better get a new hard drive!
3. Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) – 150 GB
Asobo Studios’ Microsoft Flight Simulator was not only one of the best games to release in 2020, but also one of the biggest game installs of all time.
To just get started in the game, you’re looking at a 150GB install, that’s after you’ve downloaded a 1GB initial file to begin the hefty installation process. On top of that, any additional mods, aircraft, region packs or airports that you have the option to install on top of this can push that file size up even more.
It might seem like a massive file size, but remember Microsoft Flight Simulator allows you to fly around a high-quality rendition of Earth. An entire digital planet distilled down into 150GB… nice.
2. Quantum Break – 158 GB
Biggest Games Ranked by Install Size
I love how Quantum Break’s still kicking it in this list five years after its initial release. A purely single-player experience, Quantum Break follows the story of Jack Joyce as he investigates a time travel experiment gone wrong.
There were some sharp visuals (for the time) and some great physics and time-manipulation-based mechanics that obviously requires a far few gigs to get working seamlessly.
It was Quantum Break’s merging of video games and its TV episode-style live-action cutscenes that really padded out the file size. These episodes provided even more context to the story, and would change depending on the actions made in-game, so many scenes had to be shot multiple times.
All of this culminates in not only one of the coolest game/ TV experiments to-date, but also a rather chonky 158 GB install on a Series X.
1. Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War – 164.9 GB
Activision’s Call of Duty series’ file sizes have been slowly creeping up with each annual release. The latest from Treyarch Studios, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, continues this trend.
With a single-player campaign, multiplayer, Zombies, ray-tracing assets, and high-quality textures for the Series X, the game is currently hogging 164.9 GB on my system.
It might seem like a ridiculous amount of space to take up, but that may be a little unfair.
You’re getting three different game modes, each with high-quality textures, all running on an engine that enables performance at a locked 60 FPS (or higher if you’ve got the display and right HDMI).
We’d still rather Activision and its rotation of Call of Duty developers found a means of compressing that file size down a bit, when the games look and run as good as Cold War does on Series X, feels that little bit more justified.
Editor Note: While we’re aware that a number of other Call of Duty games have file sizes surpassing 100 GB and therefore belong on this list, we thought we’d make it a more interesting read for you by surmising them all below:
- Infinite Warfare – 101 GB
- Black Ops 3 – 113 GB
- Modern Warfare (2019) – 114.4 GB (Campaign, Multiplayer, Spec Ops)
