From Call of Duty MW3’s staggeringly large 140GB download to Baldur’s Gate 3’s 100GB file size, mammoth game downloads are frustratingly common nowadays. This makes downloading PS5 games feel like an absolute nightmare, even if the lightning-fast SSD makes them boot and load at breakneck speeds once they’re on your console. Well, Sony could change things up for the better with a new PlayStation patent to download games in chunks, getting you into new games much faster.
One of the best aspects of the PS5 and Xbox next-generation consoles is how fast and seamless everything feels, from loading a game to changing between graphics and performance mode – everything except downloading games, that is. With new PS5 games sometimes taking up well over 100GB, the built-in 825GB SSD (which actually only has 667.2GB of usable space) not only quickly fills up with just a few games installed, but also feels like it takes an eternity before you can finally enjoy the best PS5 games when it comes to downloading them in the first place.
As reported by VeryAliGaming, this new Sony patent outlines “a method for accelerating the start time of an application” through downloading games in chunks. Most excitingly though, it also expresses that “playtime information is associated with the application chunk information”. In other words, as the patent notes, playtime statistics from the wider PlayStation gaming community could be used to dictate the size of each install chunk to download games much more efficiently and get you into the action much quicker.
In theory, players would be able to access each downloaded chunk before the full game has been downloaded, with this playtime metric intelligently deciding each section. If this sounds somewhat familiar to you, then it’s because some PS5 games already allow you to play the game before it’s fully downloaded, often single-player games letting you play through the introductory level or so. Elden Ring, FFXV, and Just Cause 3, for example, let players experience the tutorial and opening area. What this patent is referring to is a more advanced version of this, where even more of these playable chunks can be downloaded, using player metrics to intuitively decide where to start and end each section until it is complete.
While it’s worth remembering that this is, at the end of the day, a patent – meaning it’s not necessarily a feature actively being developed for PS5 (or beyond) – we’ve no doubt that many PlayStation fans would clamor for such an update. With game downloads seemingly ever-expanding as graphical fidelity and overall expansiveness increase, getting into your new games takes longer and longer. It’s a problem that’s likely only going to get worse as time goes on, unless, of course, this patent becomes a reality.
Until then though, we’ll all have to suffer the slog of downloading new games; tackling the 251 games worth $8,000 added to PS Plus in 2023 is an unfortunately daunting task. To help you save time by only downloading the best of the best, why not check out the best PS5 FPS games or best PS5 RPG games? There are plenty of stellar options out there.