Death Stranding Surprise: 50% Slimmer Than Red Dead Redemption 2

Fresh off going gold a few short weeks ago and learning the ESRB has assigned a Mature 17 + rating alongside the best description of the game yet, we now know that the Death Stranding file size tallies up to a a pretty reasonable 55GB.

Death Stranding Is Half the Size of Red Dead Redemption 2

The rather modest storage requirements for Hideo Kojima’s highly anticipated game place it at about half the size of Rockstar’s cowboy epic Red Dead Redemption 2 with its whopping 105 GB double-disc retail version.

The news surfaced via the small print at the bottom of a promotional shot nestled in a pre-order listing for the PlayStation 4 Pro 1TB limited edition Death Stranding bundle over on retailer Best Buy’s website.

It’s worth noting that the promo shot states “55 GB minimum.” Keeping in mind that day one patches are pretty much de rigueur these days when it comes to AAA releases, we can’t expect the actual install size to be marginally more substantial, possibly by a handful of gigabytes or so.

Optional Online Play

Interestingly, the small print also reads “online play optional.” It doesn’t mean all that much given that we don’t quite know what Death Stranding’s untraditional multiplayer entails, and Kojima has remained guarded on the topic. Speculation suggests an asynchronous experience whereby other player actions are felt rather than witnessed.

But, when coupled with earlier news that Death Stranding won’t require a PlayStation Plus subscription for its online component, it’s a welcome departure from the trend of having a PS Plus paywall for multiplayer, which hasn’t sat all that well with large swathes of the PlayStation player base.

As we trudge closer to the launch of Death Stranding on Nov. 8, we can expect hot takes to start pouring in from Nov. 1 at 12:01 am PT, which is when the review embargo lifts.