Didn't see a thread dedicated purely to game load times so here we are. Embargo has lifted on Series X backwards compatible games which is what is being tested by various outlets. Coverage has been limited to these few select outlets right now but I'll update the thread once we get more test results.
This is all without any sort of optimization FYI.
Gamespot:
Red Dead Redemption II
38 seconds on Series X
2 minutes, 8 seconds on One X
Control
10 seconds on Series X
58 seconds on One X
FINAL FANTASY XV
13 seconds on Series X
1 minute, 11 seconds on One X
The Outer Worlds
11 seconds on Series X
43 seconds on One X
These are games with significant load times on current-gen systems so it's great to see this.
The Verge:
Destiny 2
43 seconds on Series X
1 minute, 52 seconds on One X
In Destiny 2, for example, I can now load into a planet in the game in around 30 seconds, compared to over a minute later on an Xbox One X and nearly two minutes in total on a standard Xbox One. These improved load times are identical to my custom-built PC that includes a fast NVMe SSD, and they genuinely transform how you play the game — you can get more quests and tasks done instead of sitting and looking at a planet loading.
Sea of Thieves
20 seconds on Series X
1 minute, 21 seconds on One X
Warframe
25 seconds on Series X
1 minute, 21 seconds on One X
No Man's Sky
1 minute, 27 seconds on Series X
2 minutes, 13 seconds on One X
GamesBeat:
One of the biggest promises of the Xbox Series X is the speed of its SSD, and that is something that developers will take advantage of eventually. But in the meantime, it is a very noticeable upgrade when launching and loading backward-compatible games.
I tested load times in games like Assassin's Creed: Origins, Final Fantasy XV, and No Man's Sky. I did some comparisons versus the internal storage on an Xbox One X, but I also tried external storage on the Series X. And what I found is that the SSD and the Series X's Velocity architecture is always going to save you time.
Loading Final Fantasy XV on the Xbox Series X took around 13 seconds. On the internal storage of the Xbox One X, that same loading sequence required longer than a minute. And this is a game that was not built with the Xbox Series X in mind. This is the result of the improvement to raw data throughput and not anything that is hooking into Velocity.
Other games have similar results. My No Man's Sky save loaded in nearly 30 seconds on the Xbox Series X. On the One X, it loaded in 1 minute and 19 seconds.
Videos:
