Crimson Desert is shaping up to be one of the biggest open-world releases on PS5 this year, but anyone buying the physical edition should be prepared for a sizable day-one download. While the retail disc includes a large portion of the game, it won’t contain the full experience on its own, meaning players will need internet access at launch to get everything installed.
A gamer who checked the PS5 physical version reported that the disc carries roughly 77GB of data. However, when the game unlocks on March 19, an additional 48.24GB download will be required. Without installing that extra data, the game can’t be played offline. Once the download is completed, though, players will be able to explore the world without staying connected.
This situation highlights a growing issue with modern physical releases on current-gen consoles. Standard PS5 Blu-ray discs top out at 100GB, and today’s massive open-world games can push well beyond that limit. For players who prefer owning discs to avoid heavy downloads, these “physical-but-not-complete” releases can feel like a frustrating compromise—especially for anyone with slow internet or data caps.
Even collector-focused editions aren’t immune. Some fans hoped Crimson Desert would follow the approach used by certain other large titles that ship across multiple discs to ensure the full game can be installed without a major online download. Instead, the PS5 physical release still relies on additional files delivered digitally at launch.
It’s not just PlayStation experiencing these space constraints, either. Across gaming hardware, storage limits are becoming a recurring problem as worlds get larger, higher-resolution textures become standard, and games ship with more content than ever. When physical media can’t keep up, publishers increasingly lean on downloads to fill the gap.
There’s also a cost factor many players don’t consider at first. Day-one downloads for physical games aren’t just an inconvenience—they can force people to manage SSD space more carefully, and expanding console storage can get expensive. Physical copies used to help reduce that pressure, but now they often come with mandatory downloads that aren’t just small patches.
The upside is that early impressions suggest the hassle may be worth it. Crimson Desert is being praised for its ambitious scale, strong performance, and advanced visuals. One creator noted that even after 50 hours of playtime, they’d only seen a small part of the world of Pywel, reinforcing the idea that this is a long-haul open-world adventure. Combat is also getting attention thanks to realistic physics that make encounters feel more grounded and impactful.
For anyone worried they’ll be locked into always-online play, the key detail is this: after installing the required launch download, Crimson Desert on PS5 can be played offline. The developer has also previously communicated that the full game would not fit on the disc, setting expectations for a hybrid physical-and-digital install process.
If you’re planning to pick up the Crimson Desert PS5 physical edition on release day, the best move is simple: make sure you have enough free storage space and expect to download about 48GB before you can jump in—especially if offline play matters to you.
