In recent times, we have witnessed the launch of games that boast a huge size: from the 130 GB it has come to weigh Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare up to 105 GB of Red Dead Redemption 2 or Gears of War 4, which after numerous updates has reached 103 GB. The problem of these heavy games is a question that Microsoft has in mind but, as pointed out Jason Ronald, Xbox Series X Head of Development, There is no magic wand that allows the company to find a quick solution. to this position.
Xbox Series X and huge games
In an interview with Eurogamer, the head of development for Xbox Series X, Jason Ronald, rose in defense of freeing up space on your consoles hard drive when it comes to installing a game. Point out that this is one of the objectives of Microsoft but he admits, at the same time, that there is no quick solution to the problem. This is a question that, to be solved, it is necessary that many elements are coordinated with each other.
"There is no magic wand that simply makes games inherently smaller."Ronald began by pointing out. "Since compression technologies that we take advantage of, which actually allows the footprint and the amount of data that we need to download to be smaller, we provide developers with many tools for them to more effectively resolve which assets need to be installed and when. For example, if you have a console configured in English, why do I need to download the audio resources in French or Spanish? "
Intelligently installing the really necessary assets and discarding the leftovers, is one of the company's proposals
In relation to the aforementioned, Ronald also talks about other of the efforts carried out by the company: how is the introduction of technology Fast start, a system that prioritizes the installation and download of the files necessary to start the game, allowing users to enjoy their favorite titles minutes after starting the download.
"About two years ago we introduced technology Fast start, where we use machine learning to understand what assets are going to be used and how often they are being used"explains Ronald." In this way, from the point of view of the console, we can be smarter when it comes to knowing what files we install and when. "
One of Microsoft's goals: to end heavy gaming
"It is the most important thing for us", said. "It's something we work closely with all the middleware companies in the industry, as well as developers, and then we provide a wide range of tools to help them downsize those games, not just to minimize the amount of content. that we need to download, but also the total size of the actual footprint on the disk. "
In this sense, it ensures that Redmond's work hard To minimize the space that games require on the console: "There is no magic button that makes everything smaller," he concludes. "What we don't want is to limit these amazing worlds and universes that developers create. We just need to offer the necessary tools so they can make the right tradeoffs. "
