Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s File Size Highlights a Crucial Problem with the Switch

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom features a price tag and file size that are further indicative of the Switch's hardware limitations.

[Neonridr]

a game file size has nothing to do with how good a game is.

[FallenAngel1984]

Where in the article is the quality of the game being questioned because of its file size?

[Neonridr]

Storage is something that all consoles have to factor in. We see "next-gen" games that clock in at well over 100GB. Physical Switch carts don't dump the entire contents to the internal storage like a PS5 or Xbox game does. People that are purely digital understand the hardware limitations and by now have already expanded the internal storage of the Switch. I've upgraded my PS5 internal storage as well because the 625GB or so wasn't going to cut it either.

[FallenAngel1984]

It’s more apparent with Switch because the larger file size seems to be driving up the price of the game.

Other Switch games with a similar or even larger file size still have the $60 price tag. However Nintendo doesn’t see fit to do similar pricing structure as the other third party games on their own platform

[Profchaos]

Bingo Mario 64 was under 10mb looking at the Rom files actual hardware size could have been about 54mb according to google and that's regarded in the top teir of platform games to this day compared to other equally as good games of the same time crash 216mb and Spyro 301mb

[TheEroica]

7 downvotes?

[NotoriousWhiz]

Probably because the comment, while true, isn't relevant to the article. (See: @FallenAngel's response)

[Neonridr]

yeah, I realize that my comment didn't really have much to do with the article. I clarified in my second post.

[GotGame818]

The file size is 18.4 GB. Anyone who plays Switch a lot, likely have memory cards. They are cheap now. I bought a 128GB SD card for my Switch, on sale for around $10. I will upgrade to a larger one when Switch 2 comes out.

[Snookies12]

Be wary of those cheap cards with a lot of space... I got one for like $20 on sale and it was defective. It started acting like I didn't even have the SD card inserted when trying to start up digital games.

[closed_account]

did you buy a reputable brand like SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston or some random no-name cheapo? I've never had an issue with a MicroSD from any of those brands, and all 3 of those can regularly be found for cheap prices.

Anyways, this article is dumb because in 2023, large MicroSD are so incredibly cheap. Just a 2 min Amazon search shows a 512gb SanDisk for $46.Zelda at 18gb would still leave a huge amount of room on that card. If you are brand new to the Switch, you can get by with 128gb for $15 or less. The author of this article should be happy that Nintendo didn't go with proprietary cards. I remember paying over $100 for 64gb imported from Japan for PS Vita, bc they didn't even make them in the west.

[Snookies12]

@OtterX - I should have structured my comment a bit differently. I was talking about being wary of the random name brands. But in my case, it was in fact a SanDisk.

[FIELDMARSHALL_P]

Came to say this lol I got a card when I got the switch I knew I would need it between the games I wanted to play and all the crap my kids like.

[eagle21]

They act like a physical version is not launching for those who don't have space for digital. And like GotGame818 said, memory is cheaper now. May 12, 2023 baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's gooooo! :)

[XxINFERNUSxX]

The bigger problem is the price for digital and physical are the same, which clearly it should not be. Digital should always be cheaper, with physical you are actually paying for the cart, case, & insert which does increase the cost. Digital should always be at least $10.00 cheaper.

[neutralgamer1992]

That's the problem with digital in general. Prices are the same for some weird reason

[andy85]

Physical is actually more expensive in the UK which is messed up. RRP is normally the same but most stores never charge that

[Knushwood Butt]

@ andy

It's the same in Japan. I almost never buy digital day one, especially if physical is an alternative.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

30% cut on any major digital store is one reason.

[Firebird360]

Agree completely.

[FallenAngel1984]

Physical games wouldn’t get stocked by retailers if digital games were always the cheaper option

[MadLad]

Guess it won't be taking much space up on my PC then.

[AuraAbjure]

Do you guys think they improved the graphics or the engine versus the previous Breath of the Wild?

[IanTH]

I'm sure it will be refined, but nothing extreme. I'm guessing resolution and framerates will be identical, and perhaps mild graphical effects will get a bump. The Wii U is no longer a concern, which is helpful, but we've not really seen anything to indicate it can go too much higher than what we saw the first time around, and I don't feel like we've gotten a lot of examples from Nintendo making massive engine upgrades during the same generation.

[AuraAbjure]

I see, thank you!

[Terry_B]

yeah..it might look 10% better than the 2017 Zelda game

[AuraAbjure]

I see, thanks!

[HeliosHex]

This is ridiculous. File size by now is not an issue for most switch owners who installed 125 or 250gb mem cards.

[MadLad]

You shouldn't have to feel the NEED to buy external storage just to have fun with your consoles. It's my only real gripe with my series S.
The 350 or so gigs barely lets you download CoD nowadays.

The switch is even worse.
This is why I'm always saying that consoles aren't really as cheap as people make them out to be, just based on the MSRP of the console itself.

[IanTH]

Yeah, Switch is worse in initial capacity, but I think Xbox is worse given the price issue.

In fact, I'm a little surprised that MS is still not getting a lot of pushback about that proprietary SSD choice. $220 for a 1TB expansion, and $400 for 2TB on XBOX this gen is absolute highway robbery. Buying a Series S and a 1TB card puts you over the X's MSRP, which is mind boggling given that it is supposed to be the value proposition.

At least it seems like Sony learned their lesson after the Vita. You can get high-performing Gen 4x4 NVMe drives for ~$60, and 2TB for ~$120. And if you want more storage, capacities above 2TB exist. Kind of crazy that MS, with their digital heavy, Game Pass focused strategy make storage so expensive and limited.

If I had an Xbox this gen, I'd probably never stump up the money for storage out of principle, and just deal with shuttling backups on cheaper SSD/HDDs. But man, still weird to realize you can get an entire PS5 Digital Edition for the price of a 2TB Expansion Card. Whewwwy.

[HeliosHex]

@madlad. I understand how you feel. But consider this it's not the companies fault devs want to make bigger games that utilize the new power in a console. It would cost the company much more to produce a new console with 2tb storage. Which you would have to be willing to pay alot more for. So that 600 dollar ps5 would end up being 800. People were already complaining it was expensive. All three companies had to find the balance between cost effectiveness and usability. Giving consumers the option to decide how much more storage they need and find good prices on extra storage. Sony did one better than Xbox in that you can install a larger internal storage which allows you to not only install but run games off it. Unlike external drives where you can only install and have to transfer to internal drive to play them. Xbox allows only external which sucks. But anyway as much as it might be hated it's a new Era and tech is more expensive to produce. It's really not that big a deal we do the same thing when we buy a pc because let's face it when it comes to gaming no amount of storage or memory is enough.

[MadLad]

@helio

Well, that really is a CoD thing. There's no way a 4 hour campaign and a bunch of multiplayer maps should be usually 3 times the size of an open world RPG with full voice acting. They're definitely not even trying to optimize for storage space.

[FallenAngel1984]

The article is about how the file size is increasing the price of the game rather just the size of the file itself. No other Switch game has sold $70, even the ones with bigger file sizes.

If you want to talk about ridiculous, then it’s absurd that Nintendo is still producing Switch systems with 32GB. Every model should have 64GB, not just the premium OLED model. The system is 6 years old and they still being stingy with internal storage. Sony and Microsoft usually release different standard models of their consoles with more storage than the launch model, but Nintendo wants you to pay extra for a QoL feature

[HeliosHex]

@fallen. True but than the switch would cost the company even more to produce and you would have to be ok with paying at least 200 extra for a 250gb switch which is the ideal storage capacity for it. It's cheaper for them to produce a 32gb switch to ensure profit on each one sold and letting you decide exactly how much more storage you need. Which is cheaper not only for them but you as well because you can get a 125 gb card for 80 or cheaper on amazon.

[FallenAngel1984]

It doesn’t even have to be 250GB. The Switch OLED has 64GB and that along with Ethernet ports in the dock should’ve been applied with the other cheaper models

Nintendo wouldn’t break bank for offering twice the storage. Nintendo has always been stingy with internal storage ever since Wii. Even when manufacturing costs drop, they never pass those savings on for future customers

[gold_drake]

i dont think it says alot about the quality, but i can only image the stuff they have to cut cause of it. and or the constraints they'd have to consider

from what google says the capacity of those cartridges are 64gb atm. but id imagine that the more stuff they have on there, the bigger and longer the loading is. just spitballin rly.

[metalgod88]

You can buy a 256GB MicroSD card for $40. It's not that big of a deal. When they're on sale, you could probably get a 512GB SD card for the same price.

Nintendo was incredibly smart for sticking with the SD card instead of going with some proprietary garbage like Sony/Microsoft have, which goes for insanely stupid prices when the SD card was literally right there.

On a side note, I'm glad to see a game nearly crack the 20 GB mark on the switch. That means it's absolutely massive. I'm excited for this LoZ game.

[S2Killinit]

Gaming isnt complete without Zelda.

[Ristul]

They talk about memory like we are stuck in the 90s and a memory card was expensive and could only fill a small amount of data. This is not the case anymore.

[hiawa23]

Interesting read. I think I have a 1TB card in my Switch, so 18GBs to me is huge for a Switch game, seems about what I was expecting. The game is going to be great no matter the size. It's Nintendo.

[HansyJ]

Really don’t need any other indicators of the faults in the hardware of a Nintendo switch. We’re not idiots

[Fonsecap]

How great this one and breath of the wild would be if Nintendo had a platform at least as powerful as ps4/XBone... They're still great games, graphics has nothing to do wether a game is good or not, but would improve the presentation immensely.

[dmonee]

14,8gb’s, Thats a decent size file for a switch game. Hoping Nintendo has something up their sleeve for the future. Im getting bored of my Switch. It feels antiquated now.