Do you know how many gigabytes of data a PS4 uses? If you don’t then you might find yourself in a situation where you’ve run out of your internet data.
On average, a PS4 consumes between 30MB and 200MB of data per hour. Downloading and updating games require the most data usage, whereas playing online consumes much less data.
Our guide will not only look at how many gigabytes of data a PS4 uses, but also how that data is consumed. Let’s dive in.
When Does A PS4 Use Data?
The answer to how many gigabytes of data a PS4 uses depends on what you are doing on the console.
You connect your gaming console to the internet for three reasons.
- Download new games,
- Update already existing games, and
- Play with other players.
Additionally, when playing multiplayer team games, players use voice chat to coordinate better with their teammates. This adds to data consumption too.
Let’s look at all of these console procedures one by one.
PS4 Data Consumption When You Download
If you’re one of those people who prefer downloading games instead of buying discs, then you need to worry about data consumption most.
Downloading games is the most data-intensive process when it comes to gaming.
On average, modern-day games consume about 50GB of data if you’re downloading them. However, a game can consume as high as 150GB too.
The better the graphics or the more elaborate the gameplay, the more data you can expect a game to consume at the time of download.
For instance, you would need about 45GB of data to download Grand Theft Auto 4 and approximately 49GB for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
On the opposite end is the Microsoft Flight Simulator which will require 150GB. This is mainly because of the ultra-realistic graphics of the game.
Most games such as Forza Horizon 5 (63GB) and Red Dead Redemption at (89GB) fall somewhere in the middle of these extremes.
One exception to this is Fortnite. Due to ground-breaking optimizations from the company, this game only takes about 10GB of space on PS4.
PS4 Data Consumption When You Update a Game
Games don’t stay the same always.
Game developers are constantly trying to improve upon their creations not only to fix bugs and glitches but to also refresh the game for users.
They do this through patches and updates which you’ll have to download. Even if you have CDs of the games, you’ll need these patches and updates.
A patch can vary in size depending upon what is being upgraded, fixed, or modified.
Typically, game patches and updates don’t require more than a single GB. However, bigger updates can go as high as 5GB.
A good example of this is Destiny 2 patches, which consistently hover around 5GB in size.
Further, you need to particularly be wary of day one patches. These are updates that come right after you install the game on your PS4 from a CD.
Day one patches are usually large with some achieving mammoth proportions.
The two most legendary updates in the gaming circles in terms of size have been the 1.14 Update of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the day one patch for Forza 7 at 51GB and 50GB, respectively.
PS4 Data Consumption While Playing Online
Playing your games online doesn’t consume a lot of data.
The data consumed by most games would fall between 40 MB and 300 MB per hour, with some exceptions.
| Game’s Name | Average Data Consumed (Mb/Hour) |
| Diablo 3 | 16-26 |
| Starcraft 2 | 20 |
| Final Fantasy XIV | 20 |
| Sea of Thieves | 30 |
| Monster Hunter: World | 30 |
| World of Warcraft | 40 |
| Call of Duty: World War II | 40 |
| PUBG | 40 |
| Rocket League | 40 |
| Minecraft | 40-200 |
| League of Legends | 45 |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 60 |
| Teamfight Tactics | 60 |
| Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout | 70 |
| Rainbow Six Siege | 70 |
| Team Fortress | 80 |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 | 80 |
| Fortnite | 100 |
| Battlefield V | 100 |
| Warframe | 115 |
| DOTA 2 | 120 |
| Overwatch | 135 |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | 160 |
| Counter Strike: Global Offensive | 250 |
| Destiny 2 | 300 |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator | 700 |
PS4 Data Consumption for Voice Chatting
You also need to know that all this data is exclusive to the game you’ll be playing. It doesn’t include the data that your voice chat will consume.
According to rough estimates, if you only have one other person on voice chat with you, your game will eat up about 30MB of data per hour.
Every additional individual you add to this group will result in the addition of 15MB per hour.
Conclusion:
The most important takeaway here is that playing a game online on PS4, even with voice chat, doesn’t consume a lot of data.
It is the downloading and updating of games that you need to be wary of.
So, the easiest way to save data while playing PS4 online is to buy game CDs and keep the automatic update feature off.
Of course, you’ll have to manually update or patch the games that you play the most.
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