Sony has spoken before about how the PlayStation 5’s SSD would be a major shift for the industry. We’ve already seen its ability to reduce loads times, with games like Resident Evil Village having nearly instantaneous load times. Now, we’re also starting to see another benefit of the console’s unique SSD: reduced file sizes.
Many games on PS5 are just smaller than their PS4 versions. The latest to prove that point in Subnautica, which is currently available for free upgrade on PS5. As reported by Twisted Voxel, the PS4 version of Subnautica was 7 GB when it released and is now 14 after all of the game’s updates. On PS5, Subnautica is 3.5 GB. That’s 70% smaller than the PS4 release while still including the same amount of content.
The difference is possible because of the new compression techniques the PS5 employs. The techniques are obviously impressive, and should help reduce some of the bloated file sizes we’ve seen in games in recent years. That said, it doesn’t work for everything. Games that used pre-rendered cutscenes won’t benefit, but those that render in real-time will.