Among Starfield‘s most glaring weaknesses and points for criticism are its unapologetically frequent loading screens. Such a drawback has led many players to suspect that the game is still using Bethesda’s old Skyrim game engine. However, a former Bethesda and Starfield developer has spoken up about what could’ve been for Starfield, and the game actually had fewer loading screens prior to release.
Nate Purkypile, in an interview with the VideoGamer Podcast, has revealed that Bethesda’s Starfield had a lot fewer loading screens compared to the retail version. Purkypile notably left Bethesda in 2021 and witnessed much of the pre-release gameplay for Starfield.
Purkypile then claimed that the overabundance of lighting and other tools added to the high number of Starfield‘s loading screens. Thus, the former Bethesda dev was surprised at the number of loading screens after playing the game in 2023.
Furthermore, Purkypile recalls what Starfield could have been without the excess features:
“It could have existed without those [loading screens]. Like, some of those were not there when I had been working on it and so it was a surprise to me that there was as many as there were,” explained Purkypile.
The Creation Engine Has Its Limits
Granted, the Creation Engine was inherently heavy on the loading screens and zone segmentation, as Purkypile explained. Any Bethesda fan who has played Fallout 4 or even The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim will surely notice how the Creation Engine works. However, Starfield‘s loading screens can be a little too excessive and longer compared to the two previous Bethesda titles.
Starfield‘s constant loading screen obstacles are more readily apparent whenever you’re exiting or entering your spaceship or during planetary fast travels– both being core features of the game.
Meanwhile, Purkypile departed Bethesda since he could no longer tolerate the bureaucracy in Bethesda as a result of having too big a team for Starfield. The former Starfield dev has since founded his own indie studio named Just Purkey Games.
As for Starfield, Bethesda hasn’t completely abandoned the sci-fi RPG and is actually introducing tons of new content and updates for the game, both free and paid.
