The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X both have unsatisfying storage capacity. This is a major turn off for the current generation of consoles since Triple-A games take up huge amounts of space (Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War is 190 GB). On top of that, both companies don’t have satisfying storage solutions, at least at launch.
Many gamers manage by deleting games and freeing up much-needed room in the hard drive. History tells us that consoles have always had somewhat limited storage capacities. Both Microsoft and Sony have released several consoles over the years, each with different hard drive capacities. These are ranked by advertised storage capacity. Keep in mind that some of this storage will be used for operating systems, not games.
10 Original PlayStation: (1 MB memory card)
The original PlayStation released in 1995 when memory cards were essential for data management. It also didn’t have a hard drive, which illustrates the massive updates to console design over the years. The original PlayStation was the first of its kind to sell 100 million units worldwide, according to PlayStation, and it put games like Crash Bandicoot and Tomb Raider on the map. On top of that, it offered multiplayer gaming through link cables before the internet took off.
9 PlayStation 2: (8 MB Memory Card)
The PS2, released in 2000, was a necessary step forward for Sony. Most iconically, it included a DVD player to serve both gamers and movie enthusiasts. The bulky console introduced the twin analog sticks, which has been Sony’s controversial signature ever since. On the games front, the PS2 brought the audience iconic PlayStation exclusives that are still released today: God of War and Ratchet and Clank. This was back when games were smaller and people weren’t clamoring for storage space. What a time.
8 Original Xbox (8 GB)
Microsoft jumped into the console games at a much later date than Sony - 2001. The console had 8 GB of space in its internal hard drive as opposed to the PS2, which didn’t have a hard drive at all. It also came with slots for memory cards, but they were no longer necessary for saving games. With that being said, it was nice of Microsoft to give players an easy way to bring games to a friend’s house. As well as the user-friendly approach, the introduction of Halo was another big reason for Xbox’s success.
7 PlayStation 3 (20 GB, 40 GB, 60 GB, 180 GB)
The PS3 had several iterations over its life span with hard drive space ranging from 20 GB to 180 GB. At this point in time games were getting bigger and storage became an increasingly important part of consoles. One of the PS3’s signature games, The Last of Us, was 26 GB, which wouldn’t even fit on the earliest model. Some of its few advantages over the Xbox 360 was blue-ray capability and free PlayStation Network support.
6 Xbox 360 (20GB, 60 GB, 120 GB, 250 GB)
Just like the PS3, the Xbox 360 had several models through its life cycle ranging from 20 GB to 250 GB. The 250 GB internal hard drive was much more accomodating to the large install sizes.
The 360’s biggest exclusives like Halo 3, Fable 2, and Gears of War were all about 6 GB. As well as the bigger hard drive offering, the Xbox 360 had superior online functionality and a better feeling controller than the DualShock.
5 Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (500 GB)
The base Xbox One and PlayStation 4 both came in with the same 500 GB hard drive. Further iterations improved on the storage size, but those were heavily advertised as new consoles altogether. This was the generation where install sizes started to skyrocket. In order to keep all your games, users had to delete installs and keep the saved data or buy an external hard drive. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare alone is about 190 GB and it’s constantly getting updates.
4 Xbox Series X (512 GB)
The smallest hard drive of the current generation is the Xbox Series S, a smaller, less powerful version of the Xbox Series X. After accounting for the operating usage, the Series S would actually rank a lot lower on the list. In reality, the Series S has 364 GB of space, which is problematic for it being an all-digital console. Besides that, one of the bigger advantages of Series S is its size and transportability.
3 PlayStation 5 (825 GB)
Next up for the current generation of hardware is the PlayStation 5. It’s 825 GB is smaller compared to its competitor, the Xbox Series X, especially when you take pre-installed material into account.
Along with the normal operating systems, the PlayStation 5 also comes with Astro’s Playroom installed and ready to go. With those additions, the PlayStation 5 actually has 667.2 GB of free space. Keep in mind, you can delete Astro’s Playroom when you’re done with it.
2 PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X (1TB)
We have a triple tie for second place, only one of which comes from the current generation of consoles. The PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X are both new additions to their respective consoles and they have a massive storage upgrade. The Xbox Series X is the newest console of the bunch and it shares a 1 TB hard drive with the others. These hard drives are necessary for the game hoarder, but they may not even be big enough to hold an expansive library.
1 Xbox One S (500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB)
The Xbox One S was another upgrade to the Xbox One, but it didn’t offer true 4k gaming like the Xbox One X. If we’re speaking strictly storage size, one version of the Xbox One S reigns supreme. It offers the biggest hard drive for consoles yet at 2 TB. It’s likely that the next iteration of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will reach this, but until then gamers can install the most games on the Xbox One S. The console also comes with a 500 GB and 1 TB hard drive.
NEXT: The 10 Heaviest Game Consoles Of All Time (& How Much They Weigh)
