Usually, it’s a good thing when a patch makes an already excellent game substantially larger. But in the case of Nier: Automata‘s most recent update, bigger is most certainly not better. On Friday, the beloved action RPG from Square Enix received what should have been a straightforward update to added localisation support for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean languages. But as reported by Automaton Media, the update also increased the game’s file size from 50 gigabytes to a staggering 366 (and a half) gigabytes.

“We have identified an issue following the latest update for Nier: Automata … where installation requires significantly more storage space than intended,” wrote Square Enix in a Steam post. “We are currently investigating the cause and working to resolve the issue. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

It isn’t clear how this issue has occurred, but it may be related to Nier: Automata’s DLC. When selected for download on Steam, each DLC appears to have the same file size as the base game. Weirdly though, this is only true for the initial download and installation. Once the game is installed, the file reportedly reverts to a more appropriate size of roughly 50 gigs.

Indeed, as a temporary solution, Square Enix suggests that anyone who needs to download Nier: Automata deselects all eight DLC when they do so. “As a temporary workaround, you can download the base game using the intended amount of storage space by going to “Properties” à “DLC” in Steam and unchecking each DLC item.”

While 366 gigabytes is obviously a ridiculous size for a game, what’s frightening to me is that games are on track to become that massive in the coming years. Big budget games regularly exceed the 100 gigabytes in file size these days, while several major titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, have surpassed 200GB.

One of the largest reported installations to date is for the combat simulator DCS World, which had a maximum file size of 250GB back in 2021. So although Nier: Automata’s SSD-choking file-size is an accidental anomaly, it might also be an ominous glimpse into the future of PC gaming.