News: 0175362989

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Call of Duty's Massive Filesize Drives Peak Internet Usage (theverge.com)

(Wednesday October 30, 2024 @06:40PM (BeauHD) from the internet-history dept.)


Comcast says the [1]latest installment of Call of Duty, released on October 25th, [2]resulted in a whopping 19 percent of its overall traffic last week . The ISP says it's the company's "biggest weak in internet history." The Verge reports:

> It's not really possible to quantify that further, given Comcast didn't provide any specific numbers -- either about how many customers were downloading the game or how big their downloads were. [3]Ranging between 84.4GB for the PlayStation version and 102GB for the PC edition Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is, in the grand tradition of Call of Duty games, a hefty download. It can be as much as 300GB if players choose to go ahead and download Modern Warfare II and III and all the associated content packs and languages, as Activision [4]explained in June .

The announcement underscores "just how restrictive its 1.2TB data cap can be in 2024," notes The Verge. "For any players who did download the whole massive 300GB package, they'll have wiped out a huge chunk of their 1.2TB Xfinity data cap in one fell swoop."

"If they used their internet as normal otherwise, that could put them right up against or even blow past that cap. Given that my family used nearly 800GB last month without any notably large game downloads, it wouldn't be that hard at all."



[1] https://games.slashdot.org/story/24/10/25/1447203/microsoft-bets-on-latest-call-of-duty-to-power-up-video-games-strategy

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/30/24283801/comcast-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-large-downloads

[3] https://insider-gaming.com/how-many-gigs-is-black-ops-6-file-size-explained/

[4] https://x.com/CODUpdates/status/1800273804389941699



Big weak (Score:4, Funny)

by Random361 ( 6742804 )

Yeah, I have to say that Comcast probably is the "biggest weak in Internet history."

Re: (Score:2)

by msauve ( 701917 )

Freudian slip.

Re: (Score:2)

by PPH ( 736903 )

That would be Slashdot editing. TFS from TheVerge has it right.

What's driving all of that? (Score:2)

by alvinrod ( 889928 )

I doubt that the textures are so large as to use up all of that space. I know that some games use up a lot, but those are largely a result of massive amounts of audio due to extensive narration or everything having voice acting for a game that might span 80 hours of game play. I don't recall COD games being like that and it wasn't all that long ago when they had to fit on a DVD.

Also it's the same file for everyone. An ISP should be able to cache it locally at their data center and cut down on the bandwid

Re: What's driving all of that? (Score:2)

by oneiros27 ( 46144 )

This is one of those times when peer to peer file sharing protocols would be very, very useful.

or just simple web caching, but the move to HTTPS for everything killed that, too

Western game developer was here (Score:2)

by Bu11etmagnet ( 1071376 )

[1]Western game developer was here [funnyjunk.com]

[1] https://funnyjunk.com/Exultant+various+juicy/fxGyRsk/

Sorry Comcast Subscribers (Score:2)

by bobbutts ( 927504 )

When fiber came to town I got it day one and cancelled Xfinity crapcast once and for all.

I feel old reading this (Score:2)

by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 )

Last year, I took a look at our actual internet consumption (my wife's and mine) and we came up at a stunning (for me) 48 GB / month. That's with the TV she watches, browsing, the occasional movie download and other mundane things. That number looks insane to me considering we're simply not doing anything heavy-duty on the internet.

And here people are saying their one TERABYTE cap is restrictive because of ONE lousy game? Wow...

102GB for the PC version? (Score:2)

by newcastlejon ( 1483695 )

Pfft. There was an official texture pack released this week for Space Marine 2, clocking in at 90GB alone. Install that and the footprint for the game is pushing 200GB.

Utterly ridiculous (Score:2)

by haxor.dk ( 463614 )

I remember when games fit comfortably on a CD-ROM, and even on DVD-ROM you could store games that ended up looking surprisingly good for the time (Quake 3 Arena comes to mind).

I'm still as big a tech fetishist as many here and I love the phat pipes to bits, but I do wonder if some of these digital titles are purposely oversized to help drum up business for super sized hard drives and net connections.

Re: Utterly ridiculous (Score:2)

by newcastlejon ( 1483695 )

Q3 was on CD. I still have it somewhere. I must have uninstalled and reinstalled it quite a few times because I can still remember the CD key.

It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion
that makes horse-races.
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