In an interview with Eurogamer, Fergal Gara, UK VP of Sony Computer Entertainment, discussed how Sony plans to make digital distribution for PlayStation 4 games more consumer-friendly. He then dropped the whopper that Killzone: Shadow Fall will be 50GB to download, which doesn't sound that consumer-friendly.
"First of all, [digital downloading] is definitely going to grow as a means of consumption. And there are big innovations in the PS4 to make it more attractive and more easy gamer wise to want to download," Gara said.
"The Play As You Download functionality, for example, means you don't need the whole file before you go. This is a little bit counterbalanced by the fact the files themselves are getting bloody big. Killzone: Shadow Fall is an uber file – I think it's cracking on for 50GB. It looks it, too, when you see it."
This is most likely one of the biggest reasons why Sony has focused on the ability to play a game as you download it. With a file that large, you'd either have to let it run overnight or give people the ability to play it while it downloads, or they will turn their attention to something else a bit more immediate.
Fifty GB is way too large for me to even consider downloading. I complained when I had to download a 15.5 GB patch for Battlefield 3 on my Xbox 360. This is one reason why I will continue to prefer retail over digital downloads, no matter how easy, "consumer-friendly," or clutter-free digital downloads may be.
[Via CVG]
