NieR: Automata's extraordinary Steam storage problem has been fixed. A recent PC update had caused the action RPG's installation size to surge from roughly 50GB to more than 366GB, turning what should have been a modest patch into an unexpectedly enormous demand on players' drives. The issue followed an update that added Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean language support.
The game's official social account has confirmed that the underlying cause was identified and resolved, while also apologizing for the inconvenience. That should mean Steam users can once again install and update NieR: Automata without the game consuming several hundred gigabytes of storage space.
It was an unusual problem even in an era where major games frequently require considerable room. The additional language options were welcome additions, but a jump of more than 600% over the game's prior size was clearly never the intended result. At its peak, the affected installation was about seven times larger than the approximately 50GB footprint players had expected.
Embedded X/Twitter post
A small-looking update with an enormous storage consequence
The patch arrived last week and expanded NieR: Automata's language offering with Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean. Localization files, voice packs, and related assets can increase a game's installation requirements, especially when high-quality audio is involved. Even so, nothing about the announced additions would normally suggest an increase on the scale seen here.
For useful background on this topic, read Mass Effect Universe Was Intended to Complement Amazon's Planned TV Series, Former BioWare Lead Says.
Instead, Steam users found that the game's storage requirement had ballooned beyond 366GB. For players with large modern SSDs, that could still mean sacrificing room needed for several other games. For anyone using a smaller internal drive, a handheld PC, or a storage setup already packed with big releases, it could prevent the update from being installed at all.
The situation drew attention partly because of the contrast between the update's apparent scope and its actual disk-space impact. NieR: Automata is a substantial game, but it had long occupied a much more manageable amount of storage. A leap from around 50GB to more than 366GB was not merely a typical growth in file size; it was a dramatic technical anomaly.
The initial acknowledgement from the official account noted that the installation was using far more storage than planned. A temporary workaround was also shared: removing the game's DLC could bring the overall requirement back down toward the intended range. That was helpful for players who urgently needed to reclaim drive space, though it was understandably not an ideal long-term answer for people who own the extra content.
The permanent fix is now available
With the newly announced resolution, players should no longer need to rely on that workaround. The official message said the cause had been found and corrected, accompanied by an apology to affected users. No detailed technical breakdown of the problem has been provided, so it remains unclear exactly which files, packaging behavior, or update process led to the extraordinary increase.
That missing technical detail leaves room for plenty of curiosity. Large game installations can result from duplicated data, download depots being handled incorrectly, compressed assets being replaced with uncompressed versions, or multiple language packages being delivered in a way that was not intended. None of those possibilities has been confirmed here, however, and the important immediate outcome is that the inflated Steam footprint has been addressed.
Players who noticed the issue may want to check the game's current installed size through Steam after the update completes. Those who uninstalled DLC solely to avoid the oversized installation can also consider restoring it now that the permanent repair has been announced. As with any unusually large patch, allowing Steam to finish its download and file-management process before judging the final occupied space is sensible, since temporary download or unpacking requirements can differ from the finished install.
How big was the accidental install?
The sheer scale of the problem is easiest to understand through comparisons with other high-profile releases. At more than 366GB, NieR: Automata's temporary Steam footprint was larger than the recently announced 212GB pre-load size for Grand Theft Auto 6 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. That made the affected install more than 72% larger than Rockstar Games' upcoming open-world blockbuster pre-load requirement.
It also exceeded a separate recent storage talking point surrounding Phantom Blade Zero. Players were advised to reserve 300GB for pre-loading that title, despite the action RPG itself having a 145GB size. The temporary NieR: Automata install went past even that 300GB reservation figure.
Those comparisons are not a measure of a game's quality or scope. Storage size can be influenced by audio, video, textures, compression methods, supported languages, file duplication, patching systems, and platform-specific requirements. Still, they underline why this case became so notable. NieR: Automata briefly demanded more disk space than several games that are commonly discussed as storage-heavy releases.
For a title originally released years ago, the contrast was especially striking. The game remains highly regarded for its stylish combat, shifting genre ideas, memorable soundtrack, and distinctive storytelling, but none of those qualities had previously made it a 366GB PC install. The patch transformed a familiar storage calculation into a major hurdle almost overnight.
Why install-size mistakes matter on PC
PC players have more options for adding or replacing storage than many console users, but that does not make massive unexpected downloads painless. SSD capacity is valuable, and modern game libraries can fill quickly. An accidental 300GB-plus increase may force a player to remove several installed games, delay an update, or reshuffle files across drives.
There is also the matter of data caps and download speeds. Even when an update does not ultimately leave behind hundreds of gigabytes of extra files, a poorly handled patch can still create a large download or require extensive local disk activity. Players on limited connections, slower broadband, or mobile data alternatives can be disproportionately affected by a technical problem that looks minor from the outside.
Language support is particularly important because it makes games accessible to more people, and adding Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean is meaningful for potential new and returning players. The complication in this instance was not the presence of those languages, but the unexpected storage behavior tied to the update. The repair means the language additions can remain the focus rather than the oversized installation.
A memorable oddity, now apparently behind players
For many observers, the incident was more baffling and amusing than catastrophic. It is hard not to be surprised by a game unexpectedly becoming seven times larger after a patch centered on language support. Yet the problem could be genuinely disruptive for players with restricted free space, and the quick temporary advice followed by a permanent fix is the more important part of the story.
NieR: Automata has had a long life across platforms and remains a significant action RPG for its blend of fast combat and unconventional narrative structure. Its Steam version has now experienced one of the stranger update-related storage incidents in recent memory, but the official confirmation indicates the abnormal install requirement is no longer the expected state.
Anyone who held off on updating because of the enormous storage demand should now be able to return to the game without clearing a huge portion of their drive. And for those who watched the number climb past 366GB, the episode stands as a reminder that even a seemingly straightforward patch can occasionally produce a spectacularly unintended result.
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