Fallout 4 PC retail has a 18.8 GB Steam download

Kilus

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We have known for sometime that the retail copies of Fallout 4 won't have the entire game included in the box and a steam download would be required:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/Dpl14">@Dpl14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/karlemannen">@karlemannen</a> yes, though you will still have to download from Steam. The disc doesn't contain the entire game.</p>&mdash; Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) <a href="https://twitter.com/DCDeacon/status/654763011677143041">October 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
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But Bethesda had not been forthright with the exact details. But I have bought my copy of Fallout 4 and after the disk install I was left with a 18.8 GB download:

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So if you are getting a PC retail copy of Fallout 4 prepare a 18.8 GB download.
 
I got the feeling that it'd be pretty big since the PC requirements didn't say it would need a blue-ray drive. But that's actually less then I thought it was going to be. I was really only expecting a gig or 2 to be on the disc.
 
Is it too much to ask that single player games actually come in the package instead of having to download them and have steam and an internet connection capable of pulling 15+gb in a reasonable amount of time?

It really can't cost that much more to burn a few dvds instead of 1.
 
Is it too much to ask that single player games actually come in the package instead of having to download them and have steam and an internet connection capable of pulling 15+gb in a reasonable amount of time?

It really can't cost that much more to burn a few dvds instead of 1.

CD Projekt included the whole game on the disc when I got Witcher 3.
 
Thankful the shop I got it from opened early for the launch, 15 or so dudes turned up and thus I am able to download most of it before my peak data cap applies. 18.8 GB on my peak data cap would have had quite the impact.
 
The Beth forums have the Hardware and Software Issues board up for Fallout 4 - the PC section already has 43 threads. At least two people are already seeing the lip sync bug that Bethesda introduced to Skyrim when they patched it to 1.9. A number of threads complaining about very low framerates. One guy claiming that he can't open the debug console. And here's a new one - a couple of people are saying that if you launch the game with a controller connected to the computer and then remove it, the game won't recognize keyboard/mouse inputs.

Can't wait to hear the reaction when they're told that the only way to fix the bugs is to reinstall the game.
 
Gotta fight the piracy.


<script type="text/javascript">window.onbeforeunload = function() {}</script><script type="text/javascript">window.onbeforeunload = function() {}</script>I think it's more like 'gotta maximize profit'. It's a cheap and insulting tactic. Also a download-only policy means it can be patched up until launch, whereas actual discs containing the game would have to be prepared long beforehand. Still insulting though. Meh.
 
At least it makes you believe that you are installing the game. MGSV retail dvd only had a 15 mb steam installer in it.
 
Makes you wonder why the hell it's called a "physical" copy of the game when you still need to go online and download the rest of the game.
 
I don't get it, what is the point of selling discs at all if you still need to download such a huge chunk? If you have a crappy internet connection ~20 gigs will still take an eternity to download; if you have a good one, it really doesn't matter if you download 20 or 50 gigs (or however big the whole game is; I'm too lazy to check). And it obviously doesn't help against piracy, if it's already available in full, with crack and all.
 
I don't get it, what is the point of selling discs at all if you still need to download such a huge chunk? If you have a crappy internet connection ~20 gigs will still take an eternity to download; if you have a good one, it really doesn't matter if you download 20 or 50 gigs (or however big the whole game is; I'm too lazy to check). And it obviously doesn't help against piracy, if it's already available in full, with crack and all.
Physical store presence helps. Also, having the steam installer on a disc removes a lot of friction for users.

Not having the entire game on discs is a dick move though. Saves them pennies on a 60€ purchase while some people can easily spend more than the price of the game just to download it.
 
Yeah, I guess it helps with sales to have something physical people can buy as a gift and such, especially this time of year.
 
Is it too much to ask that single player games actually come in the package instead of having to download them and have steam and an internet connection capable of pulling 15+gb in a reasonable amount of time?

It really can't cost that much more to burn a few dvds instead of 1.
Would you prefer that developers stop working on the game 2 months before release and play that version instead?

From what I've heard of the state of the game, that's pretty much what your'e doing. ;)

But seriously: they can't have added 18G of new assets to the game in the last two months. Clearly they never planned to include any of them, as there's no way that much data would even fit on a DVD.
 
Is it too much to ask that single player games actually come in the package instead of having to download them and have steam and an internet connection capable of pulling 15+gb in a reasonable amount of time?

It really can't cost that much more to burn a few dvds instead of 1.
Would you prefer that developers stop working on the game 2 months before release and play that version instead?


Actually, I would prefer that. It would take away yet another excuse for why it's somehow ok with lots of people that their products suck right out of the box.

They should be able to meet deadlines just like every other professional company that produces a product on a specific schedule, they're supposedly a AAA developer.

I manage a factory, where we produce large expensive portable shade and storage structures, and we don't get to set a ship date then work right up until the moment the customer touches the product. We have to make the stuff on time well before that date, in order to ship it on time, and this is actually an incentive to have realistic goals and an efficient production system with which to meet the needs of our customers.

We don't get to spend the whole allotted production time making crappy products, then send out a zero day patch to our customers to fix them after they get something that doesn't work and are screwed.

In our case, it actually has to work right out of the box, and there really is no excuse for a company that makes single player console and PC games to not have the same policy.

You couldn't patch a game for the original PSX via the internet, and as a result you sank or swam based on the quality of the product right out of the case. Why is that so different now?

Ubiquitous broadband connections shouldn't be a greenlight to reduce production quality.
 
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Is it too much to ask that single player games actually come in the package instead of having to download them and have steam and an internet connection capable of pulling 15+gb in a reasonable amount of time?

It really can't cost that much more to burn a few dvds instead of 1.
Would you prefer that developers stop working on the game 2 months before release and play that version instead?

It shipped on XBone and PS4 complete.
 
Is it too much to ask that single player games actually come in the package instead of having to download them and have steam and an internet connection capable of pulling 15+gb in a reasonable amount of time?

It really can't cost that much more to burn a few dvds instead of 1.
Would you prefer that developers stop working on the game 2 months before release and play that version instead?

Are you saying this due to your experience with Wasteland 2 because I feel like that is a different story entirely?
 
I live in semi-rural Australia (2574, for the locals). At my best ever internet connection speed (around 600Kb/s and the miracle of it staying there for the entire duration) it would take me 9 hours to download this 19 odd gigabytes. In the real world; probably 24 hours. This is the reason I dislike Steam. It allows publishers (and developers) to pull this sort of shoddy crap. And this isn't the only game where this sort of shit has happened.
 
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