The file size record for a single Nintendo first-party game for the Switch will be broken with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on May 12. The new Zelda will take up 18.2GB, which is a few gigabytes more than Breath of the Wild’s 14.4GB. However, while these are record sizes for Nintendo titles, whose devs are highly familiar with the Switch hardware and know all the tricks on how to properly optimize and compress their games, the following list has considerably worse examples from some third-party developers. So, let’s have a look at the worst offenders in our top 10 biggest Switch games.
Top 10 Biggest Switch Games
Before we list the games that take up the most space on the Switch, let’s put things in perspective. The theoretical limit for the size of games for the physical editions is 64GB because that is the maximum storage capacity of Nintendo’s custom game cards; as for the internal memory, the original Switch model comes with 32GB, while the OLED model has 64GB, so just keep those numbers in mind.
10. WWE 2K18 (21.2GB) – This is actually the last published WWE 2K game for Switch.
9. DOOM & Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (22GB) – A bundle of two games.
8. Mortal Kombat 11 (22.5GB) – 6.54GB base game, day one update added 15.9GB, possibly even more in the Ultimate edition.
7. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (23.7GB) – I still have no idea why it took so much!
6. DC Universe Online (24.1GB) – Free-to-play MMO with a lot of updates.
5. Apex Legends (24.3GB) – That is with the update but without the DLC.
4. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy The Definitive Edition (25.4GB) – Compilation of PS2 GTA ports that were not most effectively optimized, if at all.
3. L.A. Noire (27.5GB) – A small miracle this one got released for Switch; it actually plays nicely but will eat up your free space.
2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (31.5GB) – The famous “impossible port” in its Complete Editon glory held the record for the biggest Switch title for some time.
1. NBA 2K23 (53.7GB) – The current record holder. Not much can be said here, except for the fact that 2K probably hasn’t heard of the terms “optimization” and “compression.” For comparison, the version of the same game for next-gen consoles takes about 140-150GB.
Most of the games on this list can easily use up all of your internal memory, but that’s why you can expand the space in the Switch through microSD cards, most typical cards go from 128 to 256GB, but the Switch can support up to 1TB of external storage.
Related: All Pre-Order Bonuses for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Listed
So there you have it. Compared to these games, the new Zelda doesn’t seem that big – at least in the file size, but there is no doubt that the upcoming Nintendo exclusive will be one of the biggest games on the Switch when it comes to the size of the world and the sheer amount of content!
