This Xbox Series X Feature Will Prove To Be Clutch
The Xbox Series X and Series S will be launching Nov. 10, 2020. While fans are excited for the upcoming consoles, there are concerns surrounding just how much storage space both consoles will have. After all, gamers want to get the most out of their systems, and that includes being able to fit an extensive game library on the latest consoles. Luckily, a new and exciting Series X feature has just been revealed.
During a recent chat between Xbox Live's Larry Hyrb and Series X Director of Program Management Jason Ronald, the two of them went over some of the ways in which gamers can be sure to squeeze as many games and experiences onto the Xbox Series X as possible.
"[E]ven beyond the hardware, we've actually made user interface improvements to make it easier for you to manage your storage," explained Ronald. "You know, as an example, one of the new features that we're adding is actually for — if a title chooses to support it — the ability to selectively uninstall different components of the game."
So how would this work exactly? The idea of selectively keeping portions of a particular game sounds like it could be pretty complex. However, according to Ronald, it can be broken down into very simple components. Ronald explained, "[L]et's say you play a campaign as an example, and then you want to focus exclusively on multiplayer. If the developers chose to support it you can actually uninstall the campaign itself so that you can be more in control of how you're actually using your storage, so that you really get the most benefit out of the available storage that you have."
In other words, let's say you have completed the campaign for Gears 5 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. You still plan on enjoying the multiplayer for years to come, but you're pretty sure you won't be revisiting the storyline for quite some time. If these games participate in this workaround feature for Xbox consoles, then you'll be able to unload at least the campaign from your console's SSD. This would free up a good bit of space and still allow you the opportunity to continue playing the game's multiplayer modes.
For game series like Call of Duty, where a good deal of the lasting appeal comes from the online multiplayer components, this new feature will certainly come in clutch. This may also prove to be a blessing for next year's Halo Infinite, which is poised to be the largest Halo experience of all time. Once the massive open world story has been completed, gamers may be relieved to still be able to hang onto the multiplayer portions while offloading the presumably massive campaign file.
This is going to come in extremely handy heading into the next generation of video games. As games have gotten more and more complex over the years, the file sizes of AAA titles has ballooned with time. Back in April 2020, GamesRadar took a look at some of the current-gen titles with the largest files sizes. At the time, Modern Warfare continued to outweigh pretty much everything else, topping out at a massive 175.2GB. With the newest season of Modern Warfare and Warzone having just launched and new tie-in content related to Black Ops – Cold War just over the horizon, it is extremely likely that the game will become even larger. It could prove to be a little much for the Xbox Series S, which has an even smaller amount of storage than the Xbox Series X.
In fact, it's looking like most next-gen games are going to continue the trend of having some massive file sizes. Most notably, the highly anticipated "Ultimate Edition" of the PS5 exclusive Spider-Man: Miles Morales is set to have a file size of 105GB. It's looking like Xbox may end up having an advantage over PlayStation when it comes to storage options.
It's unclear whether the option to upload specific portions of games will be available for the Xbox Series S as well, but one would certainly hope so. While game file sizes are getting significantly larger with time, it seems that Microsoft is trying to keep up. Aside from this planned feature, the company has also recently announced options for external storage on next-gen consoles. Although the price of Xbox's external SSD is a bit higher than some people may have been expecting, it is still looking like it will be invaluable when it comes to accommodating more games on the Series X.
Between the external SSD and this new feature that will allow gamers to keep only the parts of their games that they're currently using, it's looking like Xbox owners won't have to sweat too much over the ever-growing file sizes of newer games.