Allowing users to preload games has become increasingly more common with the proliferation of digital downloading of games, and in the case of AAA titles, it has become an expectation. In news that confused some people, Bethesda Softworks announced that people who purchased Starfield's purchase the $99.99 Premium Edition or picked up the game's $34.99 Starfield Premium Upgrade can preload the game to play it at 5 pm PT, 7 pm CT, and 8 pm ET on August 31. If you plan to play the via Game Pass or purchased a standard version of the game, you will not be allowed to participate in the early access event and will have to wait until the game's September 6, 2023 global release date.

Also, the ability to preload the game currently is limited to the Xbox Series X|S. PC and Steam purchases of the game cannot preload the game until August 30. Oh and the storage requirements are unshockingly steep. On Xbox, you will need 126 GB of storage, which is nearly a quarter of the default Series S's internal storage. On PC, the storage space is 140 GB, which curiously, is more than the current Minimum/Recommended System Specs for Starfield on PC which list "125 GB available space." Don't believe me? Here you go!

I must admit, when Call of Duty broke the 200 GB mark, I have increasingly stopped caring about download sizes. With AAA titles, I just accept that the numbers will be higher than normal. Honestly, I actually think 126 to 140 is moderate for a game like Starfield where its developer continues to talk up how big it is. Nonetheless, those of you that have metered internet or data caps will be in my thoughts and prayers.

BG3 took me three days to download because I'm on 3mb down

Honestly fuck this

I recently got Jedi Survivor on sale for my PS5 and the game is 148GBs to install. I had to delete most of the games I already had installed on the drive that came with the PS5 to make room for it while keeping my live service games installed which also take a lot of space. And I'd image when the new Season of Destiny 2 starts next week, I will have update install issues. The size of these games are getting crazy.

Fortunately, Jedi Survivor is actually a really good game.

I preloaded this, Armored Core VI, and Sea of Stars yesterday. AC6 is 53.6 GB (probably another 10-15 higher on launch day) and Sea of Stars is 4.6 GB. I’m glad I can do this in advance but it starts the storage shuffle much earlier than I expected.

There really need to be more solutions for people with slower internet. I complain about mine, but in the worst case it takes hours, not days, to finishing downloading a game. Not holding my breath for ISPs to do better so I guess it’s on publishers.