PC gamers who’ll be downloading Titanfall will need to prepare themselves for a pretty hefty download. That’s because the game has been fit into a massive 48GB package by Respawn Entertainment. Why, you ask? This PC version kicks in uncompressed audio in order for it to run comfortably on systems with low-end specs. Compared to this, the Xbox One version is only about 17GB in size.
Out of the 48GB worth of files from the PC version of Titanfall, a whopping 35GB are occupied by uncompressed audio. This is pretty unusual for games, but Respawn Entertainment’s lead engineer, Richard Baker told Eurogamer that it’s a decision the developers made so that the game would work with less capable machines as well.
Here’s how it works. Titanfall reserves a good amount of CPU time for audio decode. However, when that audio is uncompressed the game obviously runs faster which acts as a boon for those using slower systems. On the Xbox One, audio decode is built into the hardware, so it’s not an issue for the console.
Titanfall was released for the Xbox One and PC in North America yesterday, and will be making its way into Europe and Australia tomorrow and in the UK and New Zealand the day after. Its Xbox 360 version will be released later this month. This first-person shooter developed by a team consisting of former Call of Duty veterans, offers multiplayer-focused gameplay involving mechs and futuristic warfare.
Titanfall is an important game for the Xbox One, since it’s not being released for the PS4, and is hence expected to leverage the relevance of Microsoft’s console.