Xbox One X Will Install Huge 4K Patches, Even If You Don’t Have A 4K TV

The recently-unveiled Xbox One X is an impressive piece of hardware, but it turns out all that cutting-edge 4K gaming comes at a price – the games will consume a HUGE amount of diskspace. We recently learned Forza Motorsport 7 will take up at least 100GB, and that’s likely just the beginning.

Stevivor recently asked Microsoft for clarification on how their massive 4K downloads will work. It seems games that support Xbox One X will receive 4K patches, and resolution will be tied to your specific Xbox model – standard Xbox One models will get 1080p assets, and Xbox One X will get 4K assets:

“With the launch of Xbox One X, when it comes to game content our intention is to download the correct assets to the correct console. This means, regardless of the TV you are playing on, 4K assets will be downloaded to Xbox One X (if available) and the standard 1080p assets will be downloaded to an Xbox One S.”

Kind of a “good news, bad news” situation. On the one hand, it’s nice that Xbox One S users won’t have to deal with giant files, but Xbox One X users having to download 4K files, even if they don’t have a 4K TV, is a bit irksome. I mean, I’m not sure why you’d buy an Xbox One X in the first place if you don’t have a 4K TV, but I’m sure some people will!

In another bit of positive news, Microsoft promises they’re working on features that will help Xbox One X developers keep their file sizes down.

“As part our developer readiness for Xbox One X, we have made available a feature which will give them significant flexibility when it comes to what gets installed on a user’s console. In addition to 4K specific assets, developers have options when it comes to language specific assets as well, which depending on the title, can drastically reduce the install footprint. This ability to intelligently install the best assets for each console and language are available on all Xbox One devices, and it will be up to the developer of the game to determine the specific implementation.”

Was this “intelligent installing” available to the makers of Forza Motorsport 7? If not, could we see that 100GB install size come down a bit before launch? Let’s hope so.

Xbox One X arrives to destroy your Internet data cap on November 7.

[via Stevivor]