Final Fantasy 14 On Switch 2 Is A Sobering Reminder That Storage Isn’t Cheap

One of the biggest MMOs of all time, Final Fantasy 14, is coming to Switch 2 next month, and you’re going to want to clear a lot of space to install the game. According to the Switch eShop listing for the game, Final Fantasy 14 will take up 117.2GB of available storage capacity, gobbling up almost half of the handheld’s built-in SSD.

As for why Final Fantasy 14 is so massive, that comes down to the Switch 2 version offering the base game and its five expansions–Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, Endwalker, and Dawntrail. Each one is a substantial piece of content that offers new stories, classes, and activities within the world of Eorzea, and when you factor in how Final Fantasy 14 has been running for over a decade, then you’ll realize just how much the game has grown since then.

It’s also worth noting that Square Enix games are notorious for their large install sizes on Switch 2, as recent releases take up a chunk of SSD real estate on the console. The recent Final Fantasy 7 games–Remake and Rebirth–are 90GB and 95GB in size, respectively, and serve as a solid reminder to grab a microSD Express card to beef up storage capacity.

That’s an easy and expensive solution, as these thumb-sized storage solutions have shot up in price lately. Due to global NAND flash shortages and a surge in demand from AI data centers, prices have doubled in recent months. For example, the Lexar 1TB microSD Express card originally retailed for $220, but currently, you can expect to pay $350 for one of these. Other affordable options like the Samsung P9 256GB card (was $55, now $80), the Sandisk 512GB (was $100, now $130), and the Lexar Play Pro 1TB (was $220, now $350) are all considerably more expensive now than they were a year ago.

Outside of the Switch 2, things aren’t looking too good for PC and consoles either. The components shortage has seen RAM prices go through the roof, while SSDs and GPUs are also incredibly expensive. Console prices have gone up, more increases are being forecast, and upgrading your PC requires the average consumer to buy a single part per month before they can overhaul their system.

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