How Much Free Space Do You Need To Install Retail WoW?

In the world of video games, World of Warcraft (WoW) is often regarded as one of the bigger games when it comes to size. Which is not surprising given that the game has been out since 2004, and is still alive and kicking. Through the years, the game has just gotten bigger and bigger, that is despite many predicting its eventually downfall in the past years. The popularity of World of Warcraft, is something that has helped the game remain relevant and even evolve overtime. Recently, the game launched its latest expansion called Dragonflight. This has only managed to make the game even more inviting to new players and to its already existing userbase. Couple good gameplay and amazing storytelling with an expansive lore, and you get to where World of Warcraft is today.

Now that we’ve established that World of Warcraft is one of the longest running games with top-notch survival instincts, and that it’s a massive game, the next question on everyone’s mind is how much free space does it actually need? The ever-growing content on World of Warcraft means that the game is bound to occupy a lot of space on your hard drive or SSD. So, if you’re a new player and want to jump into the insane World of Warcraft, then here’s what you need to know about the game and how you can prepare to enter it. First you need to know is that, even by modern standards, WoW is still a hefty game to download and its size is definitely something that needs to be taken into account when preparing your PC drives for it.

How much free space does World of Warcraft need?

Are you ready for it? We’ll as of the latest WoW Dragonflight expansion that was released on 2023, World of Warcraft requires a whopping 87.80 GB of free space on your hard drives, as per the Battle.net launcher. However, as per the recommendations given by Blizzard’s official support page, players will have to keep around 128 GB of free space on a solid-state drive to install the game. Which is not a small number when it comes to space. With that being said, while at least 87.80 GB space is required, when it comes to launching WoW on your device, you will need less space than that.

Below we’ve also listed down the minimum and recommended requirements to download World of Warcraft as per the official Blizzard support page. This will be helpful for players who want to prepare their device space to start playing the game. Please note that the minimum requirements could chance over time.

Minimum Requirements

1. Operating System – Windows® 7 64-bit (Service Pack 1)
2. Processor – 4 Cores, 3.0 GHz processor 4th Generation Intel®Core™ Haswell AMD Ryzen™ Zen
3. Video – DirectX® 12 capable 3GB GPU NVIDIA® GeForce®GTX 900 series AMD™ GCN 4th gen Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
4. Memory – 8 GB RAM
5. Storage – Solid State Drive (SSD) 128GB available space
6. Internet – Broadband internet connection
7. Input – Keyboard and mouse required.
8. Resolution – 1280 x 720 minimum display resolution

Recommended Requirements

1. Operating System – Windows® 10 64-bit
2. Processor – 6 Cores, 3.5 GHz processor 8th Generation Intel®Core™ Coffee Lake AMD Ryzen™ Zen 2
3. Video – DirectX® 12 capable 8 GB GPU NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX AMD RDNA™ 2 Intel® Arc™ 7 Graphics
4. Memory – 16 GB RAM
5. Storage – Solid State Drive (SSD) 128GB available space
6. Internet – Broadband internet connection
7. Input – Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel
8. Resolution – 1280 x 720 minimum display resolution

Given that it has a massive file size, WoW has a built-in feature that allows players to install parts of the game while playing. This is good news for beginners, as it means that you will only need to download all the essential or core game files that are needed for the game to function and load properly. The rest after that can be downloaded while you embark on your adventures through the world of Azeroth.

Like we’ve stated, for new World of Warcraft players this is an amazing feature as they will be able to immediately begin the game and not have to worry about downloading files that would be needed on the latter part of their journey. However, it is still best to free up your space to download the entire game before you install the game. It is also wise to keep extra GB space as well, for future expansions, patch updates, and so on.

If you’re just getting into World of Warcraft then, all you need to know is that its going to be one wild ride. You may also find yourself quickly engrossed in the game and its lore. Now that you know what’s in store for you and your device in World of Warcraft, we hope you have an adventurous time!