Among the advancements that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will offer is dramatically improved loading times. Back in 2019, Sony showed off the improved load times with Marvel’s Spider-Man, and now the company and its partners have shared more insight on the subject.
As part of Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal event, new information about load times on PS5–and Xbox Series X for that matter–came into focus.
NBA 2K21
2K Sports is promising that NBA 2K21 will feature “drastically improved load speeds” on PS5. In a video, the developer showed that the game will load in about two seconds. It’s not exactly clear what’s loading here, but it’s an impressive showcase all the same.
“That’s the total time it will take to load NBA 2K21 on the PS5,” Visual Concepts boss Greg Thomas says in the video below. Skip to around 30 seconds to see him speak about load times.
Resident Evil Village
Another game that is leveraging the power of new consoles to minimize or eliminate load times is Capcom’s Resident Evil Village. In a developer video, producer Pete Fabiano says the game will have “no load times.”
“Realistic graphics and immersive audio coupled with no load times will really draw you into the world we’ve created for Resdent Evil Village,” Fabiano said
Capcom did not demonstrate the “no load times,” so it’s tough to understand exactly what Fabiano is talking about. But Capcom promises more details will be announced later.
The Pathless
The next game from the developers of Abzu, The Pathless is coming to PlayStation 5. It promises a range of improvements on the new console, including no load times.
The system’s advanced audio processing will also accommodate the game’s 3D sound, and because of the PS5’s SSD, the game’s open world setting will not feature any loading screens. “Slowly filling progress bars are a thing of the past; the only thing you won’t be able to do is check your phone,” creative director Matt Nava says.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan told the BBC that the PS5’s new SSD will help “eliminate load times,” which he said represents a “paradigm shift” for gaming. Ryan pointed to the demo for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart as an example of how faster loading times will improve the experience.
“You know, we went to great lengths to show that off with considerable length in The Ratchet and Clank demo,” he said. “You saw the way that Ratchet was moving from world to world. On previous generations, the character would have needed to walk down a corridor while loading was going on in the background. Now it just happens instantaneously.”
Ratched and Clank: Rift Apart PS5 Gameplay | Sony PS5 Reveal Event
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Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X are going to be very powerful machines, but it’ll be difficult to fully understand and appreciate the impact of the load time improvements until we can get hands-on with the machine and its games.
One game that could really benefit in this department is GTA V, which, along with GTA Online, has some of the longest load times of any current-generation console game. In Rockstar’s announcement of the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game, the company stopped short of saying anything about load times, however.
“GTAV will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever,” Rockstar said.
For more on everything Sony announced today about the PS5, check out GameSpot’s roundup of all the game reveals and more.
