Typically consoles just run the game directly off of the disc or cartridge without needing to install it locally.
Modern consoles will install updates locally as a delta to what’s on the disk. Really large games typically aren’t available as a disk. Sometimes they will give you a fake disk that’s really just a download code.
The most recent consoles use blu ray disks which can hold up to 50GB. Some of the newest ones might do UV which can go even higher. Nintendo switch cartridges went up to 32GB and the Switch 2 cartridges are 64GB.
Also a lot of games will ship lower quality graphics on the console version, which helps bring the total size down.
There was a period where that was true for PC but that generally hasn’t been true for consoles
I’m not really familiar with consoles, do they let you install a game to local storage?
With the size of modern games it seems like they must, otherwise you’d be swapping discs non-stop during play?
Typically consoles just run the game directly off of the disc or cartridge without needing to install it locally.
Modern consoles will install updates locally as a delta to what’s on the disk. Really large games typically aren’t available as a disk. Sometimes they will give you a fake disk that’s really just a download code.
The most recent consoles use blu ray disks which can hold up to 50GB. Some of the newest ones might do UV which can go even higher. Nintendo switch cartridges went up to 32GB and the Switch 2 cartridges are 64GB.
Also a lot of games will ship lower quality graphics on the console version, which helps bring the total size down.