Helldivers 2 has become one of the most talked-about multiplayer shooters, but there’s a technical elephant in the room. The PC version weighs in at a massive 150GB, nearly three times the size of the console versions. Arrowhead Game Studios just launched their first technical deep-dive blog, and the explanation is more interesting than you’d think.
The Real Culprit Behind the Bloat
The oversized installation isn’t about poor optimization or lazy development. It comes down to data duplication, an old-school technique designed to make games load faster on mechanical hard disk drives. HDDs use a physical spinning platter with an arm that moves around to read data. When game files are scattered across the drive, that arm has to jump all over the place, which tanks loading times.
Arrowhead’s solution? Duplicate common assets like tree textures or sound effects and place copies near the data that needs them. When you load into a mission, the read head grabs everything in one sweep instead of hunting across the entire drive. It’s clever, but it comes at the cost of storage space.
Why Consoles Get a Free Pass
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S run exclusively on SSDs, which store data on flash memory chips with no moving parts. Seek time is basically zero. An SSD can pull any file instantly, no matter where it lives on the drive. That’s why the console versions of Helldivers 2 clock in at around 50GB without breaking a sweat.
Modern games increasingly assume players have SSDs, which is why you see them listed as minimum requirements more often. But Helldivers 2 still officially supports HDDs, and that creates a problem. Arrowhead estimates about 12% of PC gamers still use mechanical drives, though the data is fuzzy. Even if it’s a small percentage, multiplayer loading times are bottlenecked by the slowest squad member.
The Solutions on the Horizon
Arrowhead isn’t ignoring the problem. They’ve outlined a three-part plan to tackle the bloated file size without destroying load times for HDD users.
Short-Term Fixes
The next update includes housekeeping work like removing unused assets and fixing obvious duplication problems. Deputy Technical Director Brendan Armstrong admits these gains will be small and likely offset by new content, but at least the installation size will stop growing.
Medium-Term Strategy
The bigger move involves identifying the worst duplicated offenders and bundling them into “very common assets” packs that load based on specific conditions like faction or biome. This means HDD users will see slightly longer load times, probably under 30 seconds instead of instant. It’s a compromise, but it beats multi-minute waits.
There’s a catch though. Loading these common asset bundles could increase RAM usage since the game might load data it doesn’t immediately need. Arrowhead is running careful tests to make sure worst-case RAM usage doesn’t spike too high.
Long-Term Vision
Looking further ahead, the team plans engine-level improvements to prevent wasted RAM when loading common assets. Beyond that, they’re exploring data compression and possibly replicating the de-duplication techniques used on consoles. These are bigger, riskier projects, and there’s no guarantee they won’t destroy load times in the process.
What About Optional 4K Textures?
Some players have suggested making high-resolution textures an optional download. Technically possible, but the engine doesn’t support it natively. Building that functionality would be a massive undertaking that pulls developers away from performance optimization and stability fixes. Arrowhead considers it a last resort if their other solutions don’t pan out.
The Bigger Picture
This situation highlights a weird transitional period in PC gaming. SSDs have become the standard, but legacy hardware support creates technical debt that’s hard to shake. Arrowhead is stuck balancing modern expectations with backwards compatibility, and there’s no perfect answer.
The team is taking player feedback seriously, but as Armstrong pointed out, there are no easy solutions. Until they have better data on how many players actually use HDDs, sacrificing storage space keeps everyone in the squad loading in at reasonable speeds. The duplication system has clearly hit its limits though, and smarter compromises are coming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Helldivers 2 so much bigger on PC than consoles?
The PC version uses data duplication to optimize loading times for mechanical hard drives, which triples the file size. Console versions run exclusively on SSDs and don’t need this technique.
Will Arrowhead reduce the PC installation size?
Yes, they’re working on short, medium, and long-term solutions including removing unused assets, bundling common files, and potentially adding compression. Changes will roll out gradually in future updates.
How many Helldivers 2 players still use HDDs?
Arrowhead estimates around 12% of PC gamers use mechanical drives, but the data is unreliable. The studio is trying to gather more accurate information from its player base.
Will HDD users see longer loading times after the fixes?
Probably, but Arrowhead is aiming to keep increases under 30 seconds rather than several minutes. The trade-off is necessary to reduce the installation size.
What engine does Helldivers 2 use?
The game runs on Autodesk Stingray, formerly known as Bitsquid. The engine was discontinued in 2018, so Arrowhead’s engineers have been maintaining and upgrading it without official support.
Could high-resolution textures become an optional download?
It’s technically possible but would require significant engine modifications. Arrowhead considers this a last-resort option because it would divert resources from performance improvements and bug fixes.
When will the file size improvements go live?
Small optimizations are coming in the next update, but larger changes will roll out over several months as Arrowhead tests different approaches and monitors their impact on performance.
Conclusion
The 150GB elephant in the room isn’t going away overnight, but at least Arrowhead is being transparent about the problem and their plans to fix it. This first tech blog signals a commitment to keeping players informed about what’s happening under the hood. For now, HDD users can breathe easy knowing they won’t be left behind, while SSD players will just have to clear some space and wait for the gradual improvements to arrive.