Bethesda Worked Hard to Make Skyrim Fit 4.8GB While Oblivion Remastered Uses 125GB

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The expanded version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, titled Oblivion Remastered, is not only large in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of data storage. By transitioning the game to contemporary platforms, the stunning remaster has significantly grown in file size – a convenience that comes with digital games and the increased storage capacity found in modern consoles.

As a devoted fan, I can’t help but marvel at the remarkable feat achieved by Bruce Nesmith and his team when they were tasked with fitting the 2011 Elder Scrolls game onto a single dual-layer DVD. This limited the game’s file size to a maximum of 7GB. Incredibly, they managed to compress the entire game down to a mere 4.8GB on Xbox 360.

Currently, the Special Edition of the same game is approximately 22GB in size, including all the downloadable content that was previously released. However, Nesmith still appreciates the significant work done by Bethesda to ensure that the game could be played directly from a single disc for everyone’s convenience.

Nesmith clarified, “The end result was made possible thanks to our programming team and artists who put in a tremendous amount of effort. They employed efficient compression techniques, smart reuse of resources, and maximized the potential of our artwork on Xbox 360.

Nesmith shared that making Skyrim run smoothly on both consoles proved to be quite challenging, given the notoriously difficult PlayStation 3 port which was once referred to as an extremely laborious task just to get it functioning at its initial stage.

By transferring Skyrim to Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Bethesda not only improved the visual quality of its resources but also incorporated fresh features like shimmering snow effects and other small enhancements. However, while the fundamental coding of the game took up minimal storage space, the updated version of this epic RPG was more than four times larger in terms of file size due to these improvements.

In a humorous contrast, it’s hard to compare The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered to its original version, since the updated RPG has swollen from a 4GB file size to an impressive 125GB! Nesmith emphasizes that this expansion is largely due to the exceptional quality of the art in modern games. The detailed 3D models require numerous polygons, high-definition 4K textures consume vast amounts of space, and audio files also take up a considerable amount of room.

He clarified that the predominant part of it is art. This refers to animations, textures, or models, but often it’s the textures. When he worked at Bethesda, he was frequently confronted with questions like, “Will storing all this data be too much?”, and the programmer would respond as if it were a trivial matter, something like, “that’s less than the texture on an apple. Yes, you can have your data.

Keeping that in perspective, it’s clear that The Elder Scrolls 6 will likely be an extensive game with a file size exceeding 100GB. This is significant when compared to the file size of Skyrim. Although there are methods to shrink files through compression, these techniques often increase loading times. This trade-off between speed and storage space has been acknowledged by Nesmith as an inevitable challenge in Bethesda games.

With the growing need for higher visual quality, take a peek at the newest GTA 6 trailer as evidence – it’s clear that game sizes are going to keep increasing. If Oblivion Remastered clocks in at 125GB, one might wonder how large Elder Scrolls 6 will be?

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2025-05-14 17:58