Skyrim for Nintendo Switch has a file size of 14.3GB, according to its European eShop listing spotted by Nintendo Everything and verified by us. This is bigger than the 12GB Special Edition footprint on PC, but smaller than the 20GB required for PS4 and Xbox One.
Even though 14 GB is fairly small by modern gaming standards, it’s still a little irksome when considering the Switch only has about 25 GB of free space in its internal storage. As we’ve seen with similar-sized titles, like the 13.4 GB Breath Of The Wild, you’ll only be able to fit another game or two before you’ve got to start deleting.
This is especially true considering we’ve yet to find out what Skyrim’s save file size will be. Titles like NBA 2K18 take up about 25GB, or between 20GB of content and a 5GB save. NBA 2K18 isn’t the only case of storage woes either. Doom will offer its multiplayer mode as a separate download when it releases this fall. With so much content to collect in Skyrim, it’s not unthinkable that saves could add more weight to that fairly average bloat.
This news arrives amidst growing concerns Nintendo Switch’s 32GB of internal memory isn’t enough to support the scope of games its players want. While content growth often outsrtrips hardware launch storage needs in due time, it generally doesn’t happen six months after a console’s arrival. The PS4 that released in 2013, for example, just recently started to ditch its 500GB default hard drive configurations in turn for 1TB options. Even without that advancement, though, there’s never been a PS4 or Xbox One game too big for the system itself.
Thankfully, Nintendo’s increasingly close partnership with Bethesda, and the fact that Skyrim is a six-year-old game, likely helped its footprint stay at less controversial levels. The fact that it’s big but not too big also potentially tells us a bit about the game. As noted in our hands-on reports, the Switch version lies somewhere between the 2011 original and the 2016 remaster in terms of its presentation. The fact that it’s bigger than its PC counterpart suggests there’s less compression in play, and that should mean good news with regard to load times.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim arrives on Nintendo Switch Nov. 17.
What do you think of Skyrim’s Switch file size? Would you have preferred more internal storage for your Switch? Tell us in the comments section!
