Helldivers 2, a third-person shooter made by Arrowhead Game Studios, was released on February 8th, 2024. Since its release, many players who use a PC to run Helldivers 2 have become frustrated with the game’s massive storage requirements. In a post on Steam, Arrowhead Game Studios deputy technical director Brendan Armstrong discussed the reasons for the high storage requirements and the difficulties preventing a storage size reduction.

The overwhelming storage requirements for the PC version of Helldivers 2 has frustrated many fans. In a post on the Helldivers subreddit, one user described how the console version of Helldivers 2 requires around 36GB of storage while the PC version requires an overwhelming 131GB. In other words, the PC player is forced to use triple the amount of storage space when playing the game compared to a console player. The additional storage requirements has caused some PC players to rapidly run out of storage, making it difficult for them to justify keeping the game installed. Players struggling with these issues argue that the storage requirements could stem from a lack of optimization and unnecessary storage bloating.

In response to these fan complaints, Arrowhead’s technical deputy director Brendan Armstrong posted on the Helldivers 2 Steam page. Armstrong confirms that the PC storage size is nearly triple the console size, and attributes the size to various game assets being duplicated. Asset duplication is done to accommodate those playing on computers with hard disk drives (HDDs) and DVDs. Armstrong explains that the technique allows the disk to “access all the necessary information in a single, continuous sweep…this dramatically speeds up loading times.” A consequence of data duplication is that a single file now requires double or triple the amount of storage space than it would on consoles, thus requiring much larger amounts of storage for the game to run properly. 

While this technique is necessary for HDDs, most modern technology, and by proxy most modern games, use Solid State Drives (SSDs). For SSDs, Armstrong explains that the data duplication technique is “largely unnecessary” and “why the console versions of Helldivers 2 do not do this.” However, since Helldivers 2’s minimum spec requirements are HDDs and not SSDs, the game continues to use the data duplication technique to accommodate HDD-using players.

Armstrong labels the decision to continue or discontinue using data duplication as a “six-million dollar question.” Given the archaic nature of HDDs, it’s easy to assume that very few players use the technology and thus there’s little need to continue duplicating assets. However, in a survey on Steam, Arrowhead Studios found that at least 12% of Helldivers 2 players continue to use HDDs. Although Armstrong himself admits that the survey is “unreliable,” there is still no way to confirm just how many PC players use HDDs and thus benefit from the duplicated assets. 

Armstrong admits that they cannot fully stop using the duplication technique, as removing duplicated assets would result in loading times taking 10 times longer for players with HDDs. However, he claims that the Helldivers 2 crew will continue to look into potential solutions and optimizations for the game’s massive PC storage requirements.