Overwatch 2 Reveals File Size Requirement for Season 9 Patch

gamerant.com:

Overwatch 2 players will need at least 38 GB of free space in order to install the patch for Season 9. Once the Overwatch 2 update comes out on February 13, if fans don’t have this spare room on their hard drives, they will have to completely reinstall the game.

Season 9: Champions is one of Overwatch 2’s most ambitious and exciting updates yet. It may not be adding any new heroes or maps, but Overwatch 2 is making massive changes to competitive play, introducing alterations to core gameplay, and even having a crossover event with Cowboy Bebop.

Such a big balance patch is not coming without a cost, however. According to a forum post by Overwatch 2 community manager Kaedi, the Season 9 patch will be what is called a rebase patch. These updates consolidate patch data into the base files of a game to keep the overall file size down but require a lot of extra room on the installed hard drive for temporary use. The Season 9 patch will need at least 38 GB of room in order to complete the update. If players don’t have this space for whatever reason, fully uninstalling and reinstalling Overwatch 2 should also work.

Rebase patches are important because they keep the overall file size of Overwatch 2 from growing too large. The extra room is only needed during the installation process, so they won’t need to dedicate the file space to Overwatch 2 indefinitely. This is also why a full reinstallation works, as the necessary space is used by the game files themselves. Once the patch is installed, they will retain most of the extra room for other software, as the actual game’s file size will not get close to games like Tekken 8.

While making this extra room or doing a full reinstallation may be frustrating, Overwatch 2 Season 9 could end up being worth it. This patch will increase the size and speed of most weapon projectiles, buff the health of all heroes, and add a healing passive to every character in Overwatch 2. It is possible that matches in Overwatch 2 will never be the same