Helldivers 2, a co-op third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios (Arrowhead), was released over a year ago for PC and the PlayStation 5. However, many players found themselves frustrated by the PC version’s massive storage requirements. In response to these fan frustrations, Arrowhead has since created a new “slim” version of Helldivers 2, which greatly reduces the PC version’s storage requirements.
Fan frustration with Helldivers 2’s PC storage requirements came to a head in October of this year. Much of the frustration stemmed from the fact that the PC version of the game required roughly three times as much storage space as the console version, with fans concluding that the versions required roughly 131GB and 36GB respectively. Some fans felt that the massive PC storage requirements were the result of poor optimization or storage bloating.
In response to fan critiques, Brendan Armstrong, Arrowhead’s technical deputy director, explained that much of the PC’s storage space was dedicated to accommodating players who used hard disk drives (HDDs) to run the game. Given that most people use modern computers with solid state drives (SSDs), the extra storage space didn’t benefit for the average player. However, the game’s lowest spec requirements are for HDD computers, and Armstrong feared that reducing the storage requirements would lead to unbearably long wait-times for people who used HDDs.
However, based on a blog post Arrowhead released today, it appears that both HDD and SSD users will be able to enjoy lower storage requirements. Arrowhead describes how, with help from Nixxes Software, they were able to reduce Helldivers 2’s PC storage requirements from “~154GB to ~23GB, for a total saving of ~131GB (~85%).” Initial fears about increased HDD player wait-time were not accurate, with Arrowhead’s “testing [showing] that for the small percentage of players still using mechanical [HDDs], mission loading times have only increased by a few seconds in the worst cases.”
The slim version is currently out as a “public technical beta.” Players can currently opt-in to test the version while continuing to play on the same servers and from their own accounts. If any issues arise, players are also being given the option to opt-out at any time.
If testing for the slim version goes smoothly, then “it will become the default version for everyone.” In other words, the minor differences between the two versions make it impossible to justify keeping both the slim and legacy versions running. Therefore, if the slim version runs well, it will replace the legacy version to reduce the burden on the development team. Arrowhead anticipates that the legacy version will be “discontinued some time next year.”
The blog post then concludes with instructions for how to download Helldivers 2’s “slim” version, alongside Arrowhead thanking both fans and Nixxes for their contributions to the game.