Struggling with limited storage on your PC? Helldivers 2 just freed up a whopping 131GB of space with its new ‘slim’ version—enough room for a couple more AAA titles! But here's where it gets interesting: the developers achieved this by slimming down the game’s file size by a staggering 85%, all while continuing to add new content. How did they pull this off? Let’s dive in.
In a recent update on the game’s Steam page (https://go.skimresources.com/?id=1025X1701640&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.steampowered.com%2Fnews%2Fapp%2F553850%2Fview%2F491583942944621371), the team revealed their long-term goal: to align the PC installation size with the console versions. Thanks to their partnership with Nixxes, they’ve achieved this feat ahead of schedule. By eliminating duplicate data, they reduced the PC installation size from a hefty 154GB to a mere 23GB—a total savings of 131GB. And the best part? This massive reduction is expected to have only a minimal impact on load times, adding just a few seconds at most.
But here’s the part most people miss: The original file size was so large because the developers were duplicating game asset data to optimize load times for mechanical HDDs, which only about 11% of Helldivers 2 players still use. However, they’ve since discovered that load times are primarily caused by level generation, not asset loading. This means the duplication was offering little benefit to a small group of players while bloating the file size for everyone else. Controversial move? Maybe. But it’s a win for the majority.
If you’re a PC player, you can opt into the technical public beta on Steam to try out the ‘slim’ version now. Once any remaining issues are ironed out, this will become the default version for all players. And this raises a thought-provoking question: Should developers prioritize optimizing for older hardware, or is it time to fully embrace modern storage solutions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Follow Stevie Bonifield, a consumer tech news writer with a background in hardware, gaming, and AI reviews from Laptop Mag, for more updates like this. Stay tuned to see more topics and authors in your personalized homepage feed and receive email updates.
