Destiny 2 Lightfall Preload: Start Time, Platforms, File Size

Destiny 2 Lightfall is right around the corner, and here is everything we know about preloading the expansion, where you can do it and how big it will be.

Dave McAdam

22nd Feb 2023 15:36

Images via Bungie

This is part of the ‘Destiny’ directory

Directory contents

The Final Shape

Back to The Final Shape

Classes & Subclasses

Back to Classes & Subclasses

Weekly Rotations

Back to Weekly Rotations

Tier Lists

Back to Tier Lists

Server Status

Tips & Tricks

Back to Tips & Tricks

Destiny 2 Lightfall preloading begins just ahead of the launch of the expansion. Destiny 2 is kicking off a full new year of content next week with Lightfall, so naturally, there is a hefty installation involved.

Preloading is thankfully an option, but as Destiny 2 is a permanent online game, there are extra steps involved. Here is everything you need to know about the Destiny 2 Lightfall preload for version 7.0.0.1 of the game.

We have all the details, trailers and more in our Destiny 2 Lightfall rundown.

Destiny 2 Lightfall Preload: When Does It Start

Destiny 2 Lightfall preload: A Hunter with a hand cannon

As we discussed in our Destiny 2 planned downtime explainer, Destiny 2 will be taken offline 24 hours before Lightfall goes live. This will be at 9AM PST/12PM EST/5PM GMT on 27 February. The downtime is happening to give the developers time to implement the new expansion in the game and get it all up and running.

Around the same time that the game becomes unavailable, Lightfall will become available to preload on all platforms. To do so, you will just need to update your game. This should happen automatically in most cases, but you can usually make it happen by trying to run the game, or checking for updates.

Following on from Lightfall, we will be jumping into Season 20, titled Destiny 2 Season of Defiance.

Destiny 2 Lightfall Preload: Platform Differences

Destiny 2 Lightfall preload: Nimbus, one of the Cloud Striders

For the most part, all platforms will work the same regarding downloading and installing Lightfall. Steam, Xbox consoles, and the PS5 should all install the expansion as you would expect and be ready for the launch.

The only outlier is the PlayStation 4 version. As PS4 users will know, you are required to have extra space, usually around double the size of whatever you are installing, in order to install Lightfall. This means that the file size will be much larger at first, but once Lightfall is live, the excess files will be removed.

This is also true if you are playing the PS4 version of Destiny 2 on a PS5, so be aware that the game will need plenty of extra space.

We will need to get to grips with several new systems in Lightfall, like the new Destiny 2 Guardian ranks.

Destiny 2 Lightfall Preload: File Size

Destiny 2 Lightfall preload: A Hunter in Neomuna

Destiny 2 is already a large game, weighing in at just over 100GB on almost every system. Lightfall will undoubtedly add to that size, but the exact file size we can expect to download next week has not yet been fully detailed.

However, we have some clues to go off of. In a This Week At Bungie blog post, it was stated that players will need around 80GB of free space to install Lightfall. So it would seem that Lightfall itself will clock in at around 80GB. Now that preload has begun, we can confirm that Lightfall requires just over 80GB of space.

Now, it is not as simple as Bungie dumping a whole 80GB expansion on top of the game and calling it a day. There are changes and improvements being made to the game, all of which can add or take away from the overall file size. There have been suggestions that some of the changes coming will reduce the overall file size and improve load times, but the specifics will not be known to us until Lightfall is in our hands.

That is everything we currently know about the Destiny 2 Lightfall preload period. For more on the upcoming expansion, check out our Destiny 2 Lightfall Cloudstriders guide.

About The Author

Dave McAdam

Dave is a Senior Guides Writer at GGRecon, after several years of freelancing across the industry. He covers a wide range of games, with particular focus on shooters like Destiny 2, RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.

This is part of the ‘Destiny’ directory

Directory contents