Broadband ISPs in the UK braced for monster 200-240GB GTA VI download UPDATE
Internet service providers across the UK are bracing for a protracted period of network strain as Rockstar begin the release of their long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI video game, which is currently expected to require a c.210GB (GigaByte) download on PlayStation 5 consoles and potentially as much as c.240GB on the Xbox Series X.
We don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that GTA6 will be the biggest video game release of 2026, not only in terms of its raw popularity but possibly also in terms of its potential file size (a few other titles are in the same ballpark though). A recent leak strongly indicated that PS5 owners will need to download 210GB of data to play the game, which also enables us to roughly predict that this could be even higher for Xbox Series X owners.
The reason for the potential difference in file size comes down to the fact that Sony’s console utilises a special data compression technology called Kraken (not related to the cloud-based Kraken platform from Octopus), which has across many recent video game releases tended to be around 20-35% better at compressing games for download than the Xbox.
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Suffice to say that’s a significant amount of data, not only for the storage drive on your console but also for broadband ISPs and their networks to shift. Thankfully Rockstar will help to mitigate the extra network load this will bring by allowing the first digital preorders to begin preloading the game on 12th November, a week before the official 19th November release on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Spreading the load over a longer window will definitely help.
Nevertheless, at 210GB in size a broadband user on an unloaded (i.e. no other capacity demands) 100Mbps connection is going to be waiting nearly 5 hours before they can complete the download, while somebody with a 1Gbps line should get that down in 28 minutes (best case). The reality is that such heavy demands may have a small to modest impact on some connection speeds, although most ISPs are usually pretty good at mitigating this.
Broadband ISPs typically harness sophisticated Content Delivery Networks (CDN) and other systems to manage the load from such big events, which caches popular content closer in their network to users (i.e. improves performance without adding strain, which also keeps costs down). But not all providers have the same quality of arrangements in place, so experiences do vary.
Trevor Linney, Openreach’s Director for Network Technology, told ISPreview:
“GTA 6 has been on our radar for a long time. We know from games like Fortnite and Call of Duty that a major release or update can drive huge amounts of data across the network, so it’ll be fascinating to see just how much GTA moves the needle.
But the bigger story is how quickly our broadband habits are changing. Data use on our Full Fibre network continues to grow significantly, and more people are making the switch every day. It’s another reminder of why Full Fibre is the way forward as it gives people the speed, reliability and capacity they need.
Our network and teams are ready, and GTA 6 is certainly one we’ll be watching for a new download record.”
ISPreview will be keeping a close eye on network traffic over the mid-November 2026 period to see how well networks across the UK cope with the additional demand.
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UPDATE 3:57pm
We’ve added a comment from Openreach above.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Call of duty launcher + warzone is bigger then this
Rubbish
Erm Sorry?
COD is 670GB if you want to download the full thing
Agreed its bigger, but this is the biggest game launch maybe of all time, easily 1mil+ downloading it, way higher than any CoD releases of recent years.
Let’s see if Sony is ready for this! Downloads from PSN are not the fastest on the best of days.
And not forgetting even with pre-load there is probably going to be a chunky day 1 patch to download on release day.
I don’t have issue, regularly pull 800Mbps+
Interesting, that’s not my experience but might depend on whether the ISP has its own cache and the game you’re trying to download is actually cached there. Think it’s safe to assume that GTA6 will be cached everywhere though!
@James Ah so no-one has a problem then? PSN downloads are notoriously slow, as are Xbox downloads most of the time. If Steam can handle downloads at decent speeds *most* of the time, so should Sony and Microsoft. Sadly money trumps everything, so they likely don’t invest enough in infrastructure.
The wait has been so long that we literally got flying cars before gta6
poor OFNL users 😉
I think I’m officially old cause I can’t be bothered with games now.
Waited too long for this. lol
Used to be a big fan of GTA, ever since the GTA1 days. But I’m not getting GTA6 on console, will wait for the PC release. I never finished RDR2 story, the game just didn’t gel with me even though I did enjoy RDR1. The un-skippable animal skinning (without uses glitches/mods) being one thing that made the game feel like its up its own arse and towards the end I just stopped enjoying the game.
RDR2 not gelling with me, GTA5 ditching their plans for a story expansion over favouring GTA Online content (which again I found grinding, repeatative, and full of cheaters/griefers – so I never really enjoyed playing online), Dan Houser and Lazlow Jones (who did a lot of the writting/direction of the radio stations of GTA) leaving rockstar, them wanting £70 for the base game which is digital only I’m just not “pumped” about getting it on console.
So going to hold off for the PC release, which is my platform of chose anyway.
But it might be ages/tastes changing. I’m finding I’m much more enjoying indie games anyway.
Just use your 5G connection to do this if you have a unlimited plan.
Why would anyone do that?
@Jon motson If you are still stuck on VDSL because you still can’t get fibre / HFC you may find that your 5G connection is faster then your home connection, allowing you to download the game faster. Personally I can get around 1gbps on 5G in the right spot of the house, but around 500mbps~ with the phone on the desk in the home office.
I’ll wait for fitgirl repack
nice