Atomic Heart 67GB update leaves fans wondering why preloading was even an option

gamesradar.com:

Players have run into a 67GB Atomic Heart update that's required as soon as you boot up the game for the first time – even if you preloaded it beforehand. 

Following the release of Atomic Heart today, new players are feeling a touch of anticlimax as they try to jump in and play the game, especially those who went to the effort of preloading the game ahead of release. If you didn't know, players have been able to prep Mundfish's FPS since February 19 on Xbox and PlayStation (but not PC), but it hasn't done them much good. 

A search of the Xbox Series X subreddit (opens in new tab) shows plenty of frustrated fans who've sat down to finally dive in only to be met with another mammoth download that can take another hour or more. One Reddit user summed up the situation pretty well: "Why did I bother pre-downloading this?" Many have agreed with the comment, with one user adding in the same thread: "67GB download is too much even for a decent internet connection!"

It's a similar story over on Twitter, with several Xbox players sharing screenshots of the big ol' update in disbelief. "What is that 67GB 'update' about? That's like re-downloading the Entire Game?!" one Twitter user said, sharing a photo of their Xbox console chugging along with a 71-minute download. This is also the case with Atomic Heart on Xbox Game Pass – there is no escape. 

Dude What is that 67GB "Update" about. That's like re-downloading the Entire Game?!!#AtomicHeart pic.twitter.com/tGSxLYWigGFebruary 22, 2023

It's not too peculiar for a game like this to require a day-one update, but we almost never see patches of this size. Back when God of War Ragnarok was released, it asked players to download a 745 MB patch that fixed over 150 bugs. The same can be said