Why are Switch 2 sports games so big? FC, NBA 2K, WWE and Madden sizes
By Daniel del Moral Hernández · Updated October 7, 2026
If your Switch 2 storage filled up overnight, a sports game is the usual suspect. Yearly sports series are some of the largest downloads on the system, bigger than almost every Nintendo game and most open-world adventures.
The real sizes
These are the current sizes from the official US eShop listings, as tracked in the GameSpecsDB database in October 2026:
| Game | Size | Physical format |
|---|---|---|
| WWE 2K26 | 89.7 GB | Game-Key Card |
| NBA 2K27 | 81 GB | Game-Key Card |
| WWE 2K25 | 77.3 GB | Download code in the box |
| EA SPORTS FC 27 | 75.5 GB | Game-Key Card |
| EA SPORTS FC 26 | 74.8 GB | Game-Key Card |
| NBA 2K26 | 71.2 GB | Game-Key Card |
| Madden NFL 26 | 57.7 GB | Game-Key Card |
| Madden NFL 27 | 57 GB | Game-Key Card |
| PGA TOUR 2K25 | 24.6 GB | Game-Key Card |
For comparison, the median Switch 2 game in our database takes about 12.9 GB. A single wrestling or basketball game takes as much space as six or seven typical games.
Why they are so large
- Hundreds of real players and arenas. Licensed sports games include detailed models, faces, kits and stadiums for whole leagues, and each of them needs high-resolution textures.
- Commentary and crowd audio. Play-by-play commentary is recorded in many lines for every situation, often in several languages, and audio takes a lot of space.
- Many modes in one package. Career modes, online team-building modes, story modes and seasonal content all ship in the same download.
- Yearly releases built on the same base as the other consoles. These games are developed for PlayStation, Xbox and PC at the same time, and the Switch 2 version carries much of the same content.
None of them save space on a cartridge
Every major sports game we track is a Game-Key Card or a download code in the box. In both cases the full game is downloaded to the console, so buying a boxed copy does not save any storage. If you want a sports game, you need the full size free.
How to plan for them
- Keep one season at a time. When the new edition comes out, archive the old one. NBA 2K26 and NBA 2K27 together take more than 150 GB, well over half of the internal storage.
- Leave room for updates. Sports games get roster and season updates throughout the year, so do not fill the console to the last gigabyte.
- Consider a card if you play several series. One football, one basketball and one wrestling game together take around 245 GB with the sizes above, which is more than the free space on a Switch 2 on its own. A microSD Express card of 256 GB or more fixes that.
- Check before you buy. Every game page shows the current size, and the storage calculator tells you whether it fits with the rest of your library.
Performance trade-offs
Fitting these games on Switch 2 sometimes comes with compromises. EA SPORTS FC 26, for example, is capped at 30 FPS on Switch 2 while the other consoles run at 60 FPS. Where we have sourced performance figures for a sports game, they are on its game page.
Common questions
Is the size the same as on other consoles? Not necessarily. Sizes vary by platform because of compression, texture resolution and which modes are included. Always check the Switch 2 listing, not another platform’s.
Do sports games keep growing? They can. Season updates and new content are added over the year, so the size on each game page shows the date it was last checked.
Sources: official US Nintendo eShop listings of each game, as linked on every game page. Data: GameSpecsDB database, October 2026.