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Modern Warfare’s Size Is Infuriating – Inside Gaming Roundup

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Call of Duty players are being told to delete other games just to install a routine patch.

Inside Gaming’s latest roundup zeroes in on a problem that’s been building since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launched last October: the game is eating storage faster than anyone can keep up with. Late-April updates pushed the total install footprint to nearly 200 GB across platforms, and the outcry on Reddit and Twitter has moved from grumbling to genuine anger. The segment also touches on two smaller stories worth knowing — EA confirming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is now a franchise, and a leaked ESRB rating hinting at just how mature Cyberpunk 2077 is going to get.

• Patch 1.20 and its data compatibility packs pushed Modern Warfare’s install size past 180 GB on PC and up to nearly 190 GB on PS4 and Xbox One, with PC players hit by a combined 32 GB download and console players facing multi-part updates of 12-18 GB each.
• PlayStation’s file-copying update protocol reportedly requires players to have free space equal to the entire base game plus the patch before a download will even start, forcing owners of standard 500 GB consoles to delete other complete games just to install a routine patch.
• Infinity Ward’s original 175 GB PC storage estimate — meant to cover launch content and future updates — was blown through within six months thanks to Season 3 content and Warzone integration.

The 200 GB Problem

Infinity Ward built Modern Warfare with high-resolution textures and uncompressed audio from day one, and it told PC players up front to reserve 175 GB for the game. That number was supposed to cover the base install plus whatever came down the pipe afterward. Six months and a full battle royale mode later, it wasn’t close. By late April, the total footprint had climbed past 180 GB on PC and was pushing 185-190 GB on PS4 and Xbox One once patch 1.20 and its follow-up compatibility packs landed.

The rollout itself made things worse. PC players were staring down a single 32 GB download just to get current, while console players got hit with staggered updates running 12 to 18 GB apiece. None of that is small when you consider a lot of players are still running base 500 GB console drives that were already crowded before Warzone showed up as a free download layered on top of the premium game.

PlayStation’s Storage Math Doesn’t Add Up

The real flashpoint in the roundup is PlayStation’s update architecture. Rather than simply patching files in place, the system’s file-copying protocol demands free space equivalent to the entire base game plus the incoming patch before it will let the download proceed. For a game already sitting near 190 GB, that means a player might need close to 400 GB of temporary headroom just to accept an update they’re required to install to keep playing online.

Owners of standard 500 GB consoles reported having to delete multiple other complete games simply to queue and install routine Modern Warfare patches.

That’s the detail that turned frustration into fury on social media — this isn’t a one-time cost of owning the game, it’s a recurring tax every time Infinity Ward and Activision ship a fix. The Season 2 update already stretched the game’s footprint before this latest wave, and Season 3’s rollout added even more on top of it, which is exactly the kind of compounding growth Infinity Ward’s original 175 GB estimate never accounted for.

Modular Installs Are the Obvious Fix — and Still Missing

Inside Gaming’s hosts pointed out the frustrating part: this isn’t an unsolvable problem. Other big multiplayer shooters let players strip out single-player campaigns or unused modes to save space, but Modern Warfare still doesn’t offer that kind of modular install across all platforms. With multiplayer, Special Ops, a full campaign, and Warzone all bundled into one install, players who only care about Warzone or only care about ranked multiplayer are stuck downloading everything anyway.

The roundup framed it as a broader industry habit — chasing bigger textures and richer audio without giving players the tools to manage what they actually keep installed. It’s the same disconnect that shows up whenever fans compare notes on how their consoles handle Infinity Ward’s updates versus how competing shooters manage theirs.

Elsewhere in the Roundup: Fallen Order and Cyberpunk

The segment shifted briefly to EA’s confirmation that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the start of a new franchise rather than a standalone story, a notable statement given how well the game was received on release. From there, the hosts covered newly leaked ESRB rating details for Cyberpunk 2077, which point toward the kind of mature, adult-oriented content CD Projekt Red has been hinting at since the game was first revealed — a subject Inside Gaming has circled back to more than once given how much anticipation surrounds the release.

None of this changes the fact that Infinity Ward still has to figure out how to keep patching a live game without asking players to sacrifice their entire library to fit it. Season 3 already added four-man squads and new maps like Backlot on top of everything else crammed into that install, and every future content drop just adds more weight to a number that was never supposed to get this big in the first place.