Marvel Rivals has undergone a significant asset repackaging, resulting in a reduction of approximately 40 GB for its PC installation size. This change is part of the game's ongoing season 9.5 updates, which focus on optimizing its technical performance.
According to Marvel Rivals creative director Guangyun Chen, the development team has implemented a "massive texture compression overhaul" across all platforms. Chen stated that this strategy aims to achieve this reduction "without sacrificing a single pixel of visual fidelity."
While the overall install size has been reduced, the initial season 9.5 update itself is larger than a typical patch. This is due to the extensive rejigging of game assets required for the new compression methods. Chen explained that "the initial season 9.5 update will be larger than usual, but the final install size will be much lighter."
This move by NetEase mirrors a similar initiative undertaken by Arrowhead Game Studios with Helldivers 2. Last year, Helldivers 2 saw its download size shrink from around 154 GB to approximately 23 GB. This was achieved partly by de-duplicating data, as many game assets were present multiple times within the installed files to improve loading times on older hardware. NetEase has not explicitly confirmed if similar de-duplication techniques are being used for Marvel Rivals, but the reduction in file size is a welcome development for players managing limited storage space on their SSDs.