Skyrim Dev Comments on Loading Screens in Bethesda Games

Skyrim developer Bruce Nesmith recently talked about why The Elder Scrolls games have so many loading screens, explaining that they are an unfortunate necessity for the game’s design. Segmented map design has been criticized in Skyrim and Starfield countless times before, and Nesmith’s explanation at least points out why the developers have no choice but to do it.

Released in 2011, Skyrim is one of the most popular games of all time. Across multiple editions, Skyrim has sold over 60 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games in the entire history of the medium. Developer Bruce Nesmith worked extensively on both Oblivion and Skyrim, and finally left Bethesda shortly before the release of Starfield.

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In a recent interview with VideoGamer, Nesmith explained that while gamers prefer to explore a seamless world, the loading screens in Bethesda’s games are important to “keep track of item placement and detailed physics,” which can stay after a gamer leaves one room. According to the developer, Bethesda simply didn’t have a choice, and every attempt to hide loading screens or make the titles more seamless was met with huge performance issues, essentially making games worse. Nesmith explained that it’s not that the devs were “lazy” or didn’t want to address gamers’ complaints, but it was certifiably impossible to create the complex, beautiful games that Bethesda sought to make without using loading screens.

This is not the first time that developers have talked about the loading screens in Bethesda games. Late last year, Starfield dev Nate Purkeypile touched on a similar point, saying that while Starfield did not have so many loading screens during development, they were likely added to improve the game’s overall performance.

Skyrim and the entire Elder Scrolls franchise have been in the spotlight again now that Oblivion Remastered has been released. Oblivion Remastered reached over four million players in only three days, with the long-rumored title celebrating an incredibly successful launch.

Due to Oblivion Remastered’s release, gamers have been returning to some other Bethesda games. Reports have indicated that Skyrim’s player count has risen by at least 28% this month. After gamers finish playing Oblivion Remastered, even more of them may return to the popular title as they wait for the release of The Elder Scrolls 6, which does not have an official release date yet, and is not expected before 2027. Hopefully, TES 6 will not have as many loading screens as Starfield, but it’s still hard to tell, as essentially nothing about the upcoming title has already been revealed to the public yet.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

9/10

Released

November 11, 2011

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol

Developer(s)

Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher(s)

Bethesda Softworks

Engine

Creation Engine