COG Considers: Are They A Really Bad Sign Or What
Cyberpunk 2077 is almost here! Also, the day one patch looks like it’s absolutely enormous. We’re talking somewhere north of 40 GB, easy. So is this a sign of something awful in your download queue, the awful thing being Cyberpunk 2077? Or am I getting all worried for nothing? In order to supplement the terribly short memory of gamers everywhere (me again), let’s look at a couple other games that pulled this same nonsense in the recent past.
Ghost of Tsushima had a day one patch that weighed in at a mere 7.7 GB. That one came out of the oven looking more or less fully cooked. Players had relatively few bugs to report, and my one experience playing the game was just as breezy. Horizon Zero Dawn had an even smaller launch day patch, one that clocked in at a scant 250 MB. Just the tiniest little tweaks to make sure things ran right. So what about the real honkers?
Okay so The Division 2 had a patch that ranged from 45 to 92 GB, depending on which console you were playing on. That game came with uhhhhh a handful of early issues, including crashes and launch problems on various consoles. The problem there was a heavy multiplayer focus, which is always a hotbed of troubles. Fallout 76 had an initial patch that was bigger than the base game, a hefty 54 GB. Okay maybe that game isn’t a great example, as it’s been mostly made of bugs (as opposed to game code) since it first launched. Anthem’s day one patch was only 7 GB, though it addressed a much larger chunk of problems.
Given this sample size, it’s hard to draw any concrete conclusions. Yet, without any filters but patch size, I still managed to dredge up a wide variety of scenarios. Day one patches can vary greatly in size, and they don’t appear to be a clear-cut indicator of any definite issues. Although bigger patches are often worrisome, they’re also reserved for online games. Which um, Cyberpunk 2077 is not? In fact, multiplayer isn’t happening for some time, and it’s supposed to essentially be a different game? Huh. Hey, maybe this gigantic day one patch is really bad news. Thankfully we’ve only got a few more days to wait!