Is Warzone 2 only 25gb?

Let‘s establish this right off the bat – despite some rumors floating around, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0‘s install footprint is much bigger than 25GB. Depending on your platform, the actual file size ranges between 30GB on the low end for PC, all the way up to a beefy 84GB on Xbox Series X/S.

So why does the next evolution of Warzone take up so much hard drive/SSD real estate? And what does this mean for players in terms of experience and managing storage space? Read on for a complete analysis.

Breaking Down Warzone 2‘s File Size by Platform

Here are the latest verified file sizes for Warzone 2 as of February 2023 across platforms, according to the system requirements on Battle.net and Steam:

As we can see, there is significant variance depending on platform. So what explains the big gap between PC and consoles?

Why Console Sizes Are Substantially Larger

In short – the superior processing power and graphics capabilities of the latest Xbox and PlayStation hardware allows Warzone 2 to incorporate higher-resolution textures, visual effects, geography data and more.

The chart below shows how the console version file sizes have grown over time with new live service updates:

In fact, Warzone 2‘s install footprint on Series X/S is nearly 3x as large as the PC version! This shows the extensive assets and optimizations done specifically to leverage next-gen power.

While this is great for visual fidelity, it also puts more strain on limited storage space. Many players end up needing high-capacity external drives to accommodate Warzone 2 and other AAA games.

The Tradeoff Between Quality and Install Size

The advantage of Warzone 2‘s ample dimensions on console is that players with capable hardware can experience photorealistic environments, destructible buildings, advanced ballistics modeling and much more. This level of graphical showcase isn‘t possible on lower-powered platforms.

However, the downside is that fitting new content updates and live service patches will inevitably cause the file size to balloon over time if left unchecked. Here‘s how Warzone 2 compares to other popular battle royale install footprints as of early 2023:

As we can see, even though Warzone 2‘s initial base install is sizable – it‘s still comparable or even smaller than some other triple-A shooter installs.

The key is that through data optimization techniques and leveraging new hardware compression methods, the development teams have been effective at capping runaway file bloat. My prediction based on the historical growth charts is that 150GB will be the practical ceiling over the 2-3 year life cycle of Warzone 2.

Tips to Conserve Space for Warzone 2

For those still pressed for available capacity due to Warzone 2‘s bulk, here are my top recommendations:

• Invest in an external SSD (1TB+) to store next-gen games
• Uninstall unused legacy Call of Duty packages e.g. old campaign packs
• Clear temporary cached game files in system settings
• Remove lower-priority games you haven‘t touched in a while

Properly leveraging external drives is absolutely key if you want to maintain a healthy game library alongside Warzone 2. I personally use a 2TB Samsung portable SSD which loads levels nearly as fast as the internal drive.

Evaluating Future File Size Trajectory

It‘s inevitable that continuous seasons of new weapons, Operators, maps and modes will cause some file size creep over Warzone 2‘s lifecycle. But based on Infinity Ward‘s demonstrated optimization diligence so far, I predict this will be capped to reasonable levels.

The era of 175-200GB+ installs is over – publishers recognize that minimizing disk overhead is essential for game longevity and approachability. Sure, megabytes of hi-res Operator skin textures seem cool, but not at the expense of turning away mainstream players or forcing constant re-uninstall shuffle.

My take – enjoy all the cutting-edge visuals and features Warzone 2 has to offer right now, and rest easy knowing the install footprint will remain largely in check going forward.

Let me know if you have any other thoughts or concerns about managing Warzone 2 storage requirements! I‘m always happy to lend some insight.