Nintendo has officially opened up pre-orders for the Switch 2 games through its online store, right alongside the console pre-orders—talk about a double whammy to get your gaming heart racing! Naturally, I scrolled, scanned, and spent a good few minutes eyeballing the “Game file size” sections on every page. And yes, some of these numbers absolutely blew my mind.
Big Games, Big Files Let’s cut to the chase: the Switch 2 is gearing up for some hefty AAA ports, thanks to its support for 1080p (and beyond) visuals running at super-fast frame rates. As a result, file sizes that were once cute little numbers on the original Switch are now more in line with what you’d expect on a beefy Windows PC. For instance: • Madden NFL 26 comes in at a whopping 62 GB. • Split Fiction isn’t playing it small either, weighing in at 73 GB. • Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition each clocks in around 59 GB. • And even Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, which you might have expected to be a bit more modest, is taking up 53.7 GB of precious space.
In total, these file sizes add up to a little over 300 GB once you install these games. That means if you’re planning a library of blockbuster titles, you’re going to need to make friends with a microSD Express card real fast—remember, that built-in 256GB is just not going to cut it for these data-hungry DOOMs.
Nintendo’s Slimming Magic Now, not all games are created equal when it comes to file size. Our beloved first-party titles are still keeping things lean: • Mario Kart World manages a modest 23.4 GB. • Donkey Kong Bananza is even smaller—just 10 GB, which is pretty impressive in this era of massive game downloads.
When it comes to upgrade packs for the Switch 2 Edition, we see a mix: • Tears of the Kingdom adds an extra 3.6 GB on top of the base install. • Kirby and the Forgotten Land ups the ante with an additional 11 GB.
A Little Investment for Big Gaming At first glance, shelling out for extra storage on a console you haven’t even ripped out of the box might seem a bit premature. But trust me on this one: if you’re diving headfirst into the new era of high-resolution, big-file gaming, it’s smart to invest in the largest microSD Express card you can afford. These cards are a leap up (and yes, they cost a bit more) compared to the old microSD cards we’ve come to know from the original Switch and other portable consoles like the Steam Deck. A word to the wise: your old microSD cards won’t be compatible with the Switch 2, not even for showing off all those epic screenshots and video clips from your original Switch adventures.
Original source: Polygon
Source: This article was inspired by content from Polygon . All images belong to their respective owners.