In recent years, what B Club may remember most is the loading screen of their game.In an era when developers are pursuing the shortest loading time possible, loading images are still an important part of the Bethesda gaming experience.For example, Bethesda's first new IP, Starry Sky, has launched over the years, and the recently released Elder Scrolls 4: Annihilation Remake.

With the advent of solid-state drives (SSDs) and advances in technology, spending a lot of time in video games waiting for the loading screen to be completed may appear outdated in 2025.But a former Bethesda developer reminded that given the way Bethesda games are designed, the loading screen may always be part of the Bethesda game.

Bethesda fans all know that Bethesda's game is an open world RPG that requires many, many doors to be opened.Want to go to the house over there? You may need to trigger the loading screen to open the door.Fast Travel Always have a loading screen Quick Travel is always accompanied by loading, although more powerful hardware can make it faster.Sometimes just leaving one area and entering another area will also trigger loading.

Former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith (who has been involved in the development from "Annihilation" to "Starry"), said in an interview with VideoGamer that area division is an important part of Bethesda game design, so using area loading is equally important.For such RPGs made by Bethesda, a completely seamless open world is not feasible, because zone division through loading mechanisms allows the game to track the placement and physical state of the items after the player leaves a certain area, creating a feeling of leaving a permanent mark in the virtual world.

"All those who complain about Bethesda games think that this is because we are lazy or don't want to keep up with modern thinking. But in fact, Bethesda's game has rich details and dense graphics... you can't load everything at the same time. I can't get all the indoor and outdoor scenes loading at the same time, which is simply impossible. Those fancy streaming loading techniques will only cause lag in the end. So it's better to pause the game for a short time, display a loading screen, and then continue.

Bruce Nesmith said loading images have always been "a necessary evil since ancient times" in Bethesda's RPG.

"If you make less content, the experience will be more compact than a real open world experience. So that's just one of the necessary evils, and no one in Bethesda wants to do that. We really have no choice."

Despite this, when "Starry Sky" was released in 2023, players were still shocked by the frequent loading screens, from walking to simply entering city buildings, without exception.Players complain that the loading of "Starry Sky" breaks the immersion and adds annoying pauses to the game process.After the release, MOD makers have worked hard to minimize loading images.The cyberpunk-style urban "Neon" is the focus of the loading problem complaints.This urban area often triggers the loading screen because of the door opening, and sometimes even adjacent doors, which makes the task process annoying

But is this the case? Last year, Nate Purkeypile, who worked at Bethesda Game Studios between 2007 and 2021, said he was surprised by the number of images loaded when Starry Sky was released, especially in Neon City.

"Some loading areas are actually not available. When I was there, there were places where I didn't have so much loading, so I was surprised to see so much loading."

So why does Starry Sky have so many loading screens when it is released? Purkeypile explained that part of the reason is related to the Creation engine used by Bethesda to develop the game, which is closely related to performance optimization. "Many of the segments in Neon City are for performance optimization."