Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One console owners can now start preloading Elden Ring, From Software’s new action RPG. Players who have pre-purchased the game on those platforms can download it before the expected release date of February 25, 2022. PS5 pre-loading will begin near the release date.[Thanks, Game Watch].
Preloading is the practice of downloading a purchased digital copy of a game before it’s released, so that players don’t have to wait long to play when the game unlocks. As game download sizes have increased, preloading is a useful option for players with limited time or slower internet connections. Of course, preloaded game files are usually inaccessible until launch day, when the console typically downloads the final portion of the game, completes the installation, and applies purchase validation.
The Elden Ring Preload files will take up about 49GB of space on the player’s Xbox console. That’s a pretty decent size for a modern major release, although adding patches or “one-by-one” content can increase storage space requirements. Storage has become an issue with modern consoles, thanks to the rise of digital game purchases. New consoles like the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 also use high-speed solid-state drives (SSDs) as their internal storage devices. However, SSDs usually have less storage space than hard drives. This limits the default storage space available to often less than one terabyte, limiting the amount of space available for large games without expansion.
Elden Ring releases on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PS5 on February 25, 2022. Check out our game Minimum system requirements on PC.
