When Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, the highly anticipated fantasy RPG from Bethesda Studios, finally hit store shelves late last year gamers everywhere rejoiced. But, among those who were slaying dragons and powering up their shouts, a large segment of PS3 gamers were experiencing a huge problem, one that, as it turns out, developer Bethesda was very much aware of.
This problem, if you haven’t heard by now, involved the PS3 version of Skyrim quickly filling up the game’s cache after about one hour of playtime. After that the game began to slow down significantly, and the longer the Skyrim play session lasted the laggier the game became.
There’s still no root cause indicated by Bethesda as to what brought the PS3 version to its knees, but Todd Howard, Skyrim’s Director, was on hand at DICE to talk a little bit about the issue.
According to Howard, they were very much aware that gamers might run into problems with the PS3, but thought they had alleviated most of those issues prior to launch. One preconceived notion Howard put to rest was the fact that it was the game’s save file that was causing PS3 slow down.
In fact, it was the order in which players completed certain tasks, which spells they had hot keyed, and things of that nature that determined how much headache a player was bound to have. Several patches have been released since then to squash those bugs, yet a small (albeit smaller) segment of gamers are still having issues.
“The way our dynamic stuff and our scripting works, it’s obvious it gets in situations where it taxes the PS3. And we felt we had a lot of it under control. But for certain users it literally depends on how they play the game, varied over a hundred hours and literally what spells they use. Did they go in this building?”
To reiterate, Bethesda did not ship a game they knew would be broken on the PS3, they simply knew of a problem that they thought was eliminated at launch. As it turns out, the PS3 version was still prone to the slow down, and that caused a big problem for gamers.
When it’s a game like Skyrim, a game that is so highly anticipated and moves so many units, there is bound to be a larger backlash when there are problems. But, as Howard points out, Skyrim was Bethesda’s most solid release regardless of platform. And it’s a great gameplay experience to boot.
How do you feel about Bethesda being aware of an issue with the PS3 version of Skyrim and not being 100% sure it was fixed? Have you still been encountering problems with the game?
Source: Kotaku
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Actually Kotaku misquoted Todd Howard, do some research next time noob.
Howard was not misquoted. Kotaku simply made an assumption to which Bethesda responded. All of which informed this article.
That’s 100% inaccurate.
Says two self-conscious “journalists” from Game Rant.
The question at the end is baited… How can any game developer be 100% sure that the problems they encounter are solved? Can you be 100% sure that your articles are completely correct before you post them? Can television producers make sure their programs are 100% error-free before they air them? I feel like Game Rant is jaded against Bethesda for some reason, although you individuals do a great job of hiding it and presenting counter arguments.
Tom,
I can assure you there is no “jadedness” amongst the Game Rant staff when it comes to Bethesda. We do, however, offer our opinions of the situation, which may not always be the same as our readers. We like to encourage discussion of the topics.
Regards,
Matt
That’s uh…~facepalm~
My copy plays fine…I love the game
i play on pc (mines not even a amazing one, just a normal gaming one) and i can play medium settings with a solid 30fps… ps3 is ok, but i like my pc
Wow man that is just low down, Bethesda. They are aware of the issue and decide to carry on with the launch without being sure the fault was repaired. The anticipation of the game got the best of them so they went ahead and launched anyways just to make a quick buck. That’s low. It’s very easy to see if an issue is fixed, all you have to do is actually test the game for a sufficient amount of time, if it’s fixed then release, if not then back to the drawing boards. This is just incompetence on Bethesda’s part.
One aspect that must be considered, though, is the timing of the problem. It may have been fiscally irresponsible on their part to delay the game further because of issues they felt they could fix with a quick patch. Turns out it took 3 months to get it to solid state, and no one is really quite sure if it’s 100% fixed.
Having played the game exclusively on the PS3, I can attest that patch 1.4 has made the game infinitely more stable.
-Matt
I do consider time. Whether they were planning to fix it with a quick patch or not, it was still irresponsible for them to go ahead and release it with an issue like that. I would rather a game be delayed and not have that issue than having to wait for a patch. Like you said it took 3 months to get it to a solid state. I try not to be biased against any one game developer, but it’s little mistakes like Bethesda’s that can cause them to lose some respect from the gamers. It’s great the game is running stable now, but we can never get those 3 months or so back. Whenever it comes to games with such anticipation as this, the developer can’t afford little mishaps like this, it’s bad business.
@cheatmaster
You’re a prime example of proof they would’ve received back lash either way. And a “quick buck”? These companies REQUIRE money to give you that game you’re so patient to love oh so dearly. So before you make comments like that, try to think of it from their point of view, from a business perspective. And then consider whether or not you’re in the minority when it comes to accepting a delay.
Are you saying they don’t deserve backlash? You are far too forgiving my poorly mistaken friend. You’re so quick to defend Bethesda, it’s rediculous. Apparently you like having a game just sitting around collecting dust until they decide to patch it and get it working properly. What do you call my perspective other than a business one? It is purely bad business practice to release a broken game. The normal person would be hesitant about doing business with someone after they pulled something like this. They released the game too soon, that’s all there is to it. I would rather wait until the game is finished than the developer release an unfinished bug-filled game and have that feeling that I just wasted my 60 bucks.
….”And a “quick buck”? These companies REQUIRE money to give you that game you’re so patient to love oh so dearly.” – By the way just thought I’d let you in on a little secret: Bethesda already had plenty of money in the first place. How else do you think the game got made? Your beloved Bethesda made a mistake, now you can except that or you can carry on with your illogical arguement.
Touche
To be perfectly honest I haven’t really had that many problems. The only thing that annoyed me was the mannequins glitch which is now patched. The thing that’s annoying me now is the weapon rack glitch. The lag never lasted that long for me.
I’m with cheatmaster here. Until 1.4 I couldn’t play the game for well over 2 months. It just used to crash within 10 minutes of starting the thing. It even screwed up my PS3′s file system twice, & required multiple re-installs/patching to get any time out of the thing. It’s very difficult to get money back on games. The shops just don’t want to do it. So that’s my money wasted when I could have picked it up cheaper 3 months down the line when it actually worked.
If any other type of business released such broken rubbish, they’d be legally obliged to issue a recall.
I will not be purchasing any future Bethesda products anywhere near launch date.
@Kaden101
I am glad to see someone else is with me on this matter. The gaming industry is flawed and people really need to recognize it. I’m with you on not purchasing products from Bethesda upon release. They have a long history of games plagued with bugs upon release, that’s not the problem though, it’s how long it takes them patch them up.
Fortunately I didn’t fall into the Bethesda trap with Skyrim. Having played the elder scrolls I, II, III on PC and then IV on my PS3 I was already cautious but, nonetheless, went and pre-ordered the much awaited Fallout: New Vegas. Talk about destroy a game. I soon became aware I’d been well and truly ripped off but, having spent over the odds, I doggedly endured the misery and indeed completed the game 100%(minus DLC that IMHO only an idiot would buy for the PS3) and got my platinum trophy.
[Incidentally, if you know what to avoid, FNV plays perfectly well WITHOUT any patches.] As for Skyrim I did have some hope that Bethesda’s new game engine would resolve many of the problems they appear to repeatedly encounter with their renditions but ,sadly, it appears they have learned – in the main – nothing at all and I put it down to poor scripting myself. Fortunately, on the PC, you can re-write the oft times ludicrous scripts within the game but as for the PS3? I give up!
Best wishes to all of you enjoying the game on PC and Xbox and my condolences to those suffering with the PS3. To those of you for whom Skyrim is your first PS3 game I can wholly understand that you’re not as phased by the ‘bugs’ but, belive me, when it becomes game after game after game from the same publisher it’s, well – somewhat demoralising to say the very least – without using profound expletives. Never again will I purchase a Bethesda game for my PS3 – PC yes!
Ack! Belive? (see above post)
Yeah yeah, I CAN spell but readily admit I can’t type!