The Last of Us Part 1 pre-load is starting now - and the game is smaller than expected

The Last of Us Part 1 pre-load is beginning now, with players starting to download the game in Australia and New Zealand, but the title is notably smaller than expected.

It's now past midnight on August 26 in Australia, and in line with earlier reports, players are finding they're able to pre-load The Last of Us Part 1. That suggests that once midnight rolls around in your local time zone, you'll also be able to get the game pre-installed on your PS5.

That's plenty of time to pre-load The Last of Us Part 1 ahead of its full release on September 2, but it's also interesting to note that it looks like the game will take up a little less space on your console than initially expected. The above tweet puts the file at just a touch over 68GB - down a substantial amount over the 79GB figure that circled a few months ago. It's still a lot bigger than The Last of Us Remastered, but shouldn't take you quite as long to download.

It's worth noting that this pre-load is only available for the PS5 version of the game. Right now, there's no word on when the PC port is set to release, so you won't be able to prep a download just yet. That said, Neil Druckmann says that The Last of Us Part 1 PC should arrive "very soon" after the PS5 version.

We've learned quite a lot about The Last of Us Part 1 over recent days. Between leaking cutscenes and more information from Naughty Dog Central pointing to unlocked framerates and some natty PlayStation merch for Ellie, there's been plenty to enjoy, and that's before you take a look at newly-released footage from the Last of Us TV show.

We might be about to see a new addition to our list of the best PS5 games.