How much data does online gaming use?


Online gaming industry is boosting and every day you can see more gamers being online and playing games. The popularity of mobile games like PUBG can tell you how many new gamers joined this gaming world?

But, with the new players joining every day, the new games are also having good graphics and UI the increases the game size.

But, how much data does online gaming use? The online gaming can eat up from a minimum 10MB to as high as 150MB per hour. The usage of data depends on the use of several other features like VoIP and the download of regular updates and patches.

So, we researched a bit and found out some interesting facts about the some of the most played games in the market and how much data they use and what are the factors that use the data?

Internet data used by some popular games

It doesn’t matter whatever game you play and whichever platform you play, be it Xbox, PlayStation, laptop or your android devices, you are going to use some data. So, what’s the amount of data your favorite game eats?

GameData used per hour
PUBG50MB
Fortnite105MB
Overwatch130MB
League of Legends40MB
Apex Legends120-150MB
World of warcraft45MB
GTA V70MB
Density 2110MB

Have you ever felt that you are getting addictive to playing games? You must have! I started playing PUBG, initially I was just playing it for an hour but later I got addictive and now I only stop when PUBG blocks my account 3 hour of gameplay to get relaxed for 1 hour.

I have shared my story to just let you know, how addictive these video games are?

The data report above from WhistleOut shows that use of data depends on what game you are playing and for how much time you play it for?

You can use as less as 20MB data/hr and go for a maximum of more than 150GB data/hr. This is something you should know if you have a limited data plan as playing these games for hours can leave you with no data after few days.

Apart from this, the games that are coming nowadays are as big as 50GB and if you an external drive of 500GB SSD also, you can’t fit more than 10 games. Even if you get a physical copy from the nearby store, there are updates and patches that you need to install and ultimately the you end up using your space and data.

Single Player Games data usage

Single player games, yes in these games you don’t chat with your friends so you are saving some of your data. But at the same time, there are patches and other updates that keep on updating.

So, if you are on an unlimited plan then you don’t need to worry about the data usage but if the data usage is limited for you then you must turn off the automatic updates.

Patches and Updates

I have already discussed about the patches and how they end up eating your data?

Whatever the game you are playing, either you play PUBG on Android device or Fortnite Battle Royale on Xbox or PlayStation, a time will come when you would be required to download some patches.

The size of these patches can go from a few MB to few GB. You can’t even hold off these patches and updates to download as you could not be able to play the game without updating it.

Unless you download the latest updates and patches, you could not be able to connect yourself on the server. So, even if you have a limited data plan, you will have to let your game update.

Chatting with the players during game

How many of you have the habit of voice chatting during games? The games of new generation are equipped with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Yes, it is more interesting to play games now and chatting real time with your game friends but do you know voice chat used more data and bandwidth?

In a game like PUBG, you can end up using more than 50MB of data just using voice chat feature.

So, if you are on a data cap, just switch off your mic and play the game.

How can I check the data used by my gaming App?

Mobile games are now a new trend and everyday hundreds of mobile games are launched for Android users.

The games like Fortnite and PUBG are big and therefore use more data when downloading and even more when you play the game.

Therefore, it is better to keep a track on how much data these gaming apps are consuming on your Android device.

Steps to check data usage of Apps on Android

  • Go to the “Settings” in your Android phone.
  • Select “Network and Internet” and click on the “data usage”.
  • Now you have click on “Wi-Fi data usage” under the Wi-Fi option.
  • Select the App and you can now see the current and the previous month data usage on the screen.
  • You can also choose to see the data of other months. Tap on date and choose the period you want to check data usage.

Updates on Mobile games

It is a very astonishing to be able to play your favorite game on your smartphone but at the same time it becomes irritating and frustrating when you see regular updates of a games in every 3-4 days.

If you are at home and connected to your WIfi, you don’t give a damn, but when you are at a place where you are using mobile data and you see your App getting updated automatically using all the available data. Isn’t it frustrating?

So, you need to set up your apps to update only on Wifi. Check the below steps to do it-

  • Open the Play Store on Android phone.
  • Now click on the three lines at the left top corner and click on Settings.
  • Now click on Auto-Update option and select Over Wifi only.

How much data is used by online Video Streaming and downloading Videos?

We have talked all about the online data that we use on online gaming platforms, but we also stream videos and downloads them. So, what about the data usage on video streaming?

ActivityData Usage
HD film download2-4 GB
Non-HD film download600MB -1 GB
YouTube streaming 1 hour300MB
Streaming HD video online (Laptop)1.5 GB
Streaming HD video on Smart TV5-10 GB

Conclusion

Either you play on your smartphone, PC, Xbox or PlayStation, the amount of data usage depends on what you are playing.

If you are playing some higher graphics game like Fortnite and PUBG, you are certainly going to use more data and the usage will even increase further when used voice chatting during play.

I can understand that more you play the more perfect your gaming becomes and Who doesn’t want to be popular and famous!

But instead of playing for hours, you can use best Fortnite keybinds by famous players like Tfue, Gugha and Ninja and improve your gaming skills.

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