Gone are the days when downloading/installing that colossal new Grand Theft Auto game on Xbox, PlayStation, or PC would feel like a surprise. As games keep continuously evolving by adding elaborate details and graphics, they have also turned enormous.

Multiple games cross the 100+GB file size and required storage space. These include games like Destiny 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, and recently, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Moreover, additional content updates and DLCs further stack on the overall size of a game, comfortably crossing the 150GB mark.

The groundwork for next-gen consoles is laid around ultra-fast SSDs. But it’s safe to say the fundamentals for overall storage space hasn’t changed much. This, curiously, leads us to a question of how next-gen consoles like Xbox Series X will manage such colossal install sizes. Thankfully, Microsoft has been developing the technology necessary to help moderate this issue.

Hardware Decompression in Xbox Series X

Xbox director of program management Jason Ronald, in a recent interview with GameSpot, provided more insight on how the upcoming Xbox Series X includes hardware-based compression technology, which will assist in mitigating substantial file sizes.

Speaking to GameSpot, Jason Ronald explained that Series X’s hardware decompression allots as limited space as possible on the SSD for games to consume. It significantly drops all CPU overhead typically associated with run-time decompression. “This includes BCPack, which is designed specifically for compressing texture data that often is one of the largest contributors to overall game size… to help compress the actual size of the assets,” he said.

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Other Series X Features to Help Minimize Storage Consumption

The newest Xbox console will provide players with lots of efficient features. These will enable them to choose specific gameplay elements they wish to install. Players can unclog some extra GBs from the SSD by not installing unused languages or unpreferred game modes, among others.

“Developers can also take advantage of a platform feature to only install the pieces of the game players need, thereby minimizing the amount of content that needs to be installed or downloaded to the SSD.

We’re providing a lot of tools to help them be more efficient,” Ronald continued. “If you’re on an English console, [you shouldn’t] be taking space for French or Spanish audio files, things like that.”

However, the director of program management also highlighted that there is no immediate and effective solution to minimize storage consumption. He asserted, “We don’t want to arbitrarily constrain our developers in the worlds that they want to create, but at the same time too, gamers make it very clear, they don’t want to download 300GB games.”

As games keep evolving, they also demand much faster and efficient internal storage to operate. Therefore, the Xbox Series X has opted for 1TB internal SSD instead of HDD. Connecting another proprietary SSD card will further add 1TB to play and store any game. Moreover, players can connect an external HDD to transfer data, but next-gen Series X games can’t be played from the HDD.