And this is why people make fun of PC gamers. They are never happy. They complain that new games don't look better than old. So developers finally start shipping games with higher quality textures. Then they complain those take up too much space. Like somebody else said, it was the same thing when games moved to DVD. They COULD move PC games to Bluray but then you'd have people complaining about not having a Bluray drive.
For the record, I kicked off the Forza Horizons 3 download on both my PC and the XBOne before I left for work. I can't say I looked at how big it was, but I also don't care. I've only bought four games on disk in the last I don't know, 6 years? Those were collectors editions where I wanted the shiny physical object they included for one reason or another. I couldn't care less if it had a game disk, I would have happily downloaded it either way. You mention The Division like it was fine and I know it was 30Gb so where do you personally draw the line and why? I've never played GoW but I know Forza has a buttload of videos and audio commentary where as Division does not. In addition, Division recycles a LOT of assets, further decreasing the size. So, with that in mind, Forza being at least twice that size doesn't surprise me nor seem unreasonable.
Honestly I'm a happy PC gamer. I've never come on here complaining about Steam or for that matter even Uplay (at least in the recent few years). I did complain about Origin's new update which makes it literally unusable. I can't even navigate it due to the stupid changes they made.
In any case I don't think we can complain about size per se. But seriously I managed to get it to play yesterday and when I reached a wooden railing and it looked like a blurred joke.
I don't have a line for file size. The division is absolutely amazing looking. The work was put into the artwork in a way that no game before has ever had. The graffiti is unbelievably realistic. That game the way it looks could have been 100GB and I wouldn't have said anything. Mostly because Uplay's download manager is pretty good, it's reliable and handles disconnects and pauses like a champ.
When I look at games like the Division or even Bioshock they really punch way above their weight class. The difference is the amazing quality of artwork. I think quality artwork can make games that are technically poorer look great. And making "hi res" texture of bad artwork is like converting a 128kbps MP3 to FLAC.
It seems to me devs just like to push specs. They like to push numbers. 4K textures blah blah because that stuff sells. Let's be honest about 4K as a buzzword. The vast majority of 4K TV owners don't sit close enough for it to make a difference. But oh wow 4K.
Another reason file size inflation is a concern is that we've seen already devs release games with no concern for this aspect. Uncompressed audio, 20 languages thrown in for nothing. It's their revenue stream, but it's not good to hear about people with slower connections being left out. If it's done for good effect it's fine. If it's done just because they are lazy then it's poor.
I also find it a bit offensive that while certain members talk about being limited to slower connections others use this opportunity to brag about their gigabit connection or whatever. That's a pretty classist way of looking at the situation.
The only solace I have about GOW (not Forza because I've seen it and it's not impressive) is that the first game was unbelievable for its time. When I first saw it on 360 I couldn't believe how great the textures looked. If this game continues the tradition I'll have no complaint at all. Let's hope.