Patch: What are game patches?

A patch is a modification or an addition created by the actual game creators to resolve game-related issues and to ensure everything is going smoothly.

Video games, especially those that are online and competitive, have lots of glitches and bugs because of their wide scopes. As such, it's important for developers to release patches in the form of updates to fix them.

It's extremely common for games to have bugs and glitches, especially after launch or after a huge update. Just look at Cyberpunk 2077 for a recent example of a game riddled with bugs at launch. However, because of all the patches in the form of updates, CDPR has managed to turn the game's reputation around and make the game more than playable.

Games like Valorant that have acts and episodes try to release a specific number of patches per act. For example, every Valorant act has around 4 patches throughout its run to make it so players don't have to update the game every single time they log in.

As for the update size, it really depends on what problem is being fixed. If the update only carries patches to small minor glitches then it probably won't go over a single GB. However, if something major, such as fixing constant crashes or fps drops caused by a software problem, is included in the update, then it might be bigger.

As is to be expected, patches are free for everyone that has the game installed and requires a constant internet connection to download it. After it finishes downloading, the update will be installed and the game, if running, will be restarted for the patches to take effect.