Modular install options represent a significant evolution in how large-scale video games manage disk footprint on consumer systems. As triple-A titles balloon in size — frequently surpassing 200 GB once multiplayer content, high-resolution texture packs, and language assets are factored in — publishers have moved toward decoupling component installs so that players may install only the modes they intend to play. The Call of Duty franchise has become the most visible case study for this design pattern, while the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI is widely expected by industry observers and modders alike to follow suit by allowing separate installation of its single-player story campaign and its persistent online component, the presumed successor to GTA Online (Activision, 2023; Rockstar Games, 2025).
The growth of game file sizes is well documented. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and its successor titles repeatedly exceeded 200 GB on PC when all components — campaign, multiplayer, Special Ops, and the free-to-play battle royale spin-off Warzone — were installed together (Wikipedia, 2024). Standard 500 GB and 1 TB SSDs that ship in modern consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S could be filled by a single Call of Duty install, leaving little room for any other title. This created a player-experience crisis: gamers were being forced to uninstall and reinstall games at 70+ GB per download just to rotate between titles. The modular install model was Activision's direct response to that pressure, and it set a precedent the wider industry is now adopting (Activision, 2023).
Beginning with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022) and refined further in Modern Warfare III (2023) and the Warzone client, Activision shipped a launcher-based system permitting granular component management. Players can selectively install or uninstall:
This modular approach is exposed both inside the Call of Duty HQ launcher and at the OS level via Battle.net and Steam, where toggle checkboxes drive selective file downloads. The savings are substantial: a Warzone-only install on PC can reduce footprint from ~230 GB to under 90 GB, and a campaign-only install for narrative-focused players can come in below 50 GB (Activision, 2023). Crucially, the architecture is dynamic — a player who initially installs only the campaign can later add multiplayer without re-downloading the shared engine, audio cores, or operator base data, because Infinity Ward's IW 9.0 engine partitions assets by mode rather than by binary boundary (Wikipedia, 2024).
Grand Theft Auto VI is anticipated to ship with both a substantial single-player narrative — featuring dual protagonists Lucia and Jason across the state of Leonida — and an online persistent service that will, according to most industry analysts, succeed and absorb the still-active GTA Online (Rockstar Games, 2025). Given that GTA V's combined install on PC currently sits at approximately 110 GB, and given that GTA VI's open world, denser NPC simulation, and reportedly photorealistic asset fidelity will substantially exceed that, leaks and analyst reporting have suggested a total footprint between 150 GB and 200 GB at launch (Tassi, 2024).
Industry observers expect Rockstar to follow Activision's lead by allowing players to install:
This is consistent with Rockstar's own evolution. The company already split GTA Online from GTA V as a standalone purchasable product on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022, demonstrating that the technical and commercial machinery for component separation already exists internally (Rockstar Games, 2022). Modder analyses of recent Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) builds suggest the asset packaging system has been re-architected to support feature-flag-based content streaming, which is the prerequisite for true modular installation (Tassi, 2024). For players who have no interest in the online ecosystem — a substantial cohort historically critical of GTA Online's monetisation — the ability to install only the single-player experience would materially reduce both disk usage and patch download burden, since online seasonal updates routinely exceed 20 GB.
Modular installs are not without engineering cost. They require asset deduplication systems, sophisticated dependency manifests, and runtime checks that gracefully degrade when a player launches a mode whose files are absent. Activision's implementation has occasionally exhibited bugs in which uninstalling Warzone inadvertently removed multiplayer dependencies, forcing full reinstalls (Activision, 2023). For Rockstar, whose engine has historically prized tight asset coupling for streaming performance in dense urban environments, the refactor to support modular installation is non-trivial — but the commercial upside, in terms of player retention and reduced support tickets about disk space, is substantial.
Modular install options have shifted from a novelty to an expectation in the triple-A space. Call of Duty's component-toggle system demonstrably reduces friction for players juggling multiple large titles, and the architectural pattern is being studied and replicated across the industry. Grand Theft Auto VI is widely expected to implement an equivalent system, allowing players to choose between installing the single-player campaign, the online service, or both — a design decision that would align Rockstar with current best practice and respond to demonstrable player demand for disk-space sovereignty.
Activision (2023) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III file size and pre-load information. Santa Monica: Activision Publishing.
Rockstar Games (2022) Grand Theft Auto Online: Standalone release announcement. New York: Rockstar Games.
Rockstar Games (2025) Grand Theft Auto VI: Official trailer and platform information. New York: Rockstar Games.
Tassi, P. (2024) 'What we expect from GTA 6's install footprint and online component', Forbes, 18 March.
Wikipedia (2024) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019 video game). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_Modern_Warfare_(2019_video_game) (Accessed: 14 May 2026).