NieR: Automata balloons to 366 GB on PC after a botched language patch

NieR: Automata, the classic from PlatinumGames and Yoko Taro, is back in the headlines for a reason nobody saw coming. According to IGN Spain, the game received an update designed to add support for new languages (Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese), but something went wrong along the way: a bug in the patch caused the PC version's install size to skyrocket to 366 GB. To put that in perspective, the source itself compares it to having enough room for one and a half copies of GTA 6.

This matters because we are not talking about a brand-new release with 8K textures, but an action title that has been around for years and, overnight, now takes up more space than the entire libraries of many players. The good news, again according to IGN Spain, is that the problem has been identified and a fix is being worked on. The bad news is that, in the meantime, anyone with the game installed on PC may find their drive full without having done anything at all.

What you need to know

• What happened: a patch for NieR: Automata on PC added support for Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, but a bug caused the game to grow to 366 GB.
• Who is affected: players on the PC version, which is where the disproportionate size increase has been detected.
• Current status: according to IGN Spain, a fix is already being worked on, although the source does not say when it will arrive.
• The comparison that stings: those 366 GB amount to roughly one and a half copies of GTA 6, according to the same source.

A language patch with side effects

On paper, this was the kind of update worth celebrating. Adding Korean and two variants of Chinese opens NieR: Automata up to a huge part of the Asian community that until now relied on partial translations or on playing in English or Japanese. It is the sort of low-key patch that usually goes unnoticed in the release notes and that, in theory, should touch nothing more than text files and, at most, a few fonts.

The problem is that, based on what IGN Spain describes, the bug is not in the languages themselves but in how the update was packaged. When a patch makes a game multiply in size like this, the usual culprits are duplicated assets, full packages being downloaded instead of just the differences, or some resource file being shipped uncompressed. The source does not pin down the technical cause, so we will not speculate further than we should, but the pattern is a familiar one in the industry.

What you can do if it has hit you

If you have NieR: Automata installed on PC and notice your drive has suddenly emptied out, the sensible move is to check the actual size of the game folder before deleting anything in a panic. If you urgently need the space, temporarily uninstalling it and downloading it again once the fix arrives is the least painful option. According to the source, there is no official alternative procedure, so it is worth keeping an eye on the notes for the next patch.

Background: a PC version with a history

NieR: Automata on PC has never been the textbook example of a well-cared-for port. For a long time the community had to rely on unofficial patches to resolve performance and resolution issues, and the PC version carried the reputation for years of being the worst way to play one of the best action games of its generation. That it is now back in the headlines, over a minor patch, for a failure of this scale reinforces a feeling many players already had: the platform still does not get the same attention as the consoles.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz editorial desk we will say it plainly: a patch that multiplies a game's size up to 366 GB should never have reached the public branch. It is a failure that could be caught with a test as basic as checking how big the build is before publishing it. We understand that adding languages is localization work rather than heavy engineering, but that is precisely why it is striking that nobody in quality assurance saw the number before hitting the button.

For a competitive player or a content creator, disk space is no minor detail. Many of us keep a fast SSD reserved for the games we record, stream or practice daily, and that space is measured down to the gigabyte. Having a title that is not even in your main rotation suddenly swallow the equivalent of several full competitive games can leave you with no room to install the update for what really matters right before a series or a stream.

That said, credit where it is due: the reaction has been quick and, according to IGN Spain, a fix is already being worked on. That is better than the silence other companies have accustomed us to. What we ask is that, beyond the fix, the lesson gets noted. Support for more languages, yes, always. But with a minimum of review before sending it out to everyone's drives.

What do you think?

We want to know whether this patch caught you with your drive about to burst or whether you think it is an overblown anecdote. Do you believe studios should treat update sizes as just another quality issue, or is it something we simply have to learn to live with? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.