Sea of Thieves update halves game file size
In the sprawling world of live-service gaming, the accumulation of years of patches, updates, and expansions often leads to a frustrating reality: game bloat. As titles grow, storage space becomes an increasingly pressing concern for gamers. Fortunately, the industry is witnessing a positive shift, with developers actively taking steps to optimize their titles and significantly reduce their file sizes.
This trend is gaining momentum. Titles like Helldivers II and Marvel Rivals have already demonstrated that optimization isn’t just a nice-to-have, but a necessity for a smooth gaming experience. Following this movement, the community is eagerly anticipating similar efforts across the industry, driven by a shared desire for efficient digital space.
The studio Rare has recently announced that Sea of Thieves is set to receive an optimization pass aimed at achieving “significant savings” in game file size. This move addresses a long-standing request from the community to tackle the ever-growing footprint of the game.
Speaking during the latest developer update, Sea of Thieves Production Director Drew Stevens touched on various topics, including the studio’s relocation under Activision, upcoming events, and pricing changes. However, the most exciting piece of news concerned the game’s size. Stevens acknowledged that over the past eight years, the game has evolved substantially, naturally increasing its install size. He noted that storage has become a common area for community feedback and recognized that the installation size had reached a threshold demanding improvement.
The goal set by the team is ambitious: they aim to “at least halve the game size on 4K installs on PC and Xbox Series X.” Currently, the game size on these platforms stands at approximately 130GB, making these projected savings substantial.
These optimizations aren’t limited to high-end consoles. The plan extends across the board, with other platforms also set to benefit. Installations on systems like the Xbox Series S, which fall outside the 4K category, are slated to see reductions of around 30%. Similarly, the PlayStation 5 version will also receive a noticeable reduction of about 30%.
While a specific release date for this update is still pending, the development team is taking a transparent approach. Insiders will be given the first chance to review the optimizations, allowing the team at Rare to lock down a concrete launch date for everyone else.
This commitment to optimization demonstrates a willingness by developers to listen to the community and prioritize the player experience—proving that even massive, evolving games can be refined for better performance and efficiency.
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