What is annoying "pop-in" in video games and how to avoid it? The ultimate guide

¿What is the annoying "pop-in" in video games and how to avoid it? We teach you from now on. The world of video games has experienced a revolution in recent decades., taking what was once a simple pastime to one of the most powerful and creative entertainment and technology industries. However, despite the graphical, technical, and narrative advances, there are still a number of problems that can hinder the player's experience. One of the most notable and frustrating is "pop-in," a visual effect that appears when certain elements of the setting or the game itself suddenly appear before our eyes, diminishing realism and, sometimes, immersion.

In this article, we're going to take a closer look at what pop-in is, why it occurs, how it affects gameplay and the visual experience, and the most effective ways to mitigate or avoid it.We'll also analyze cases of famous video games where pop-in has been a source of controversy, analyze technical examples, and provide a critical view of how the pursuit of realism and graphic spectacularity can have its downside in the form of optimization problems.

What is “pop-in” in video games?

The term “pop-in” refers to the sudden appearance of objects, characters, textures or even entire parts of the stage while playing.It is especially common in open-world games, although it can occur in any type of 3D video game.

Generally, Pop-in is a result of how graphics engines handle loading and rendering large maps and detailed environments.When we move through a virtual world, everything around us can't be rendered at maximum quality at the same time, simply due to technical performance and hardware limitations. The game engine prioritizes what's closest to the player, bringing to the foreground elements that were previously displayed in a simplified form, or that didn't even exist in the game's memory yet.

This causes elements such as trees, rocks, cars, NPCs, or high-quality textures to literally “appear” or “materialize” suddenly in front of the player., often with an unnatural, jerky jump that is distracting and can ruin the sense of immersion.

In this context, pop-in is a side effect of resource management systems in modern engines, and a way to "save" computing power in favor of displaying increasingly ambitious scenarios.

Why does pop-in occur? Technical limitations and design decisions

The main cause behind pop-in is inherent hardware limitationsEven the most powerful consoles or PCs on the market can't load and process entire maps and all their elements at the highest quality simultaneously.

This forces developers to resort to optimization techniques such as:

• Level of Detail (LOD) systems: The graphics engine generates simplified versions of 3D models and textures when they are far from the player and loads detailed versions only when you get closer.
• Selective hiding of elements (“culling”): The game “hides” or directly does not load elements that are not supposed to be visible from the player’s current position and angle.
• Streaming rendering: A technique in which data for the world or certain areas is dynamically loaded as the player progresses, to save memory and processing.
• Use of atmospheric effects (fog, blur, etc.)Some games hide pop-in by masking distance objects with fog, blur, or low light levels.

The result is that When the player moves quickly, or the graphics engine is overwhelmed by the number of elements on the screen, models and textures may "pop" abruptly.. In the worst cases, even in the same line of sight as the player.

Many specialized forums and technical analyses agree that it is very difficult, practically impossible, to completely eradicate pop-in in current and future generations of hardware., especially in the more ambitious open-world titles.

Pop-in in different genres and recent examples

Pop-in manifests itself differently depending on the type of game, the graphics engine, and the platform on which it runs.Some examples extracted and analyzed from the experience of users and specialists:

• Open worlds and sandboxGames like The Witcher 3, GTA V, Cyberpunk 2077, and Assassin's Creed Shadows are particularly prone to pop-in, as they manage huge maps with countless elements. In The Witcher 3, for example, user forums point out that "popping in open-world games will ALWAYS be present as long as you're trying to make a game with a technical aspect appropriate to the era you're in."
• Driving games and simulators: Gran Turismo 6, as Digital Foundry points out, shows examples of car models and track elements changing in detail or even appearing as you zoom in, especially in replays or graphically demanding situations.
• Action and adventure gamesIn recent games like Sonic Frontiers and Elden Ring, the pop-in of environmental objects or enemies has sparked debate and even memes, with users heavily criticizing the visibility of these elements popping out of nowhere.

In specialized forums and analyses, it is emphasized that the perception of pop-in depends largely on how fast the camera or character moves, and how open and clear the environment is.In a dense forest, it's barely noticeable, but in a wasteland or open field at high speed (as Sonic does) the problem becomes much more apparent.

Can pop-in really be avoided? Limitations and room for improvement

The complete eradication of pop-in is, at least for now, a distant dream for most developers.But that doesn't mean there aren't ways to minimize and disguise it effectively.

The most common ways to combat it are:

• Increase hardware resources (RAM, GPU and CPU capacity, storage speed): The more resources the machine has, the more elements and with greater detail can be loaded simultaneously.
• Graphics engine optimization: Improving LOD management algorithms, hiding changes more intelligently and predictably.
• Creative use of visual effects and set designs: By carefully choosing what to show in the distance and using natural elements to hide sudden changes (hills, trees, fog, buildings).
• Load the most critical assets earlier: Although it involves greater memory consumption, some engines pre-load certain assets (such as important NPCs or quest elements) to prevent them from appearing abruptly.
• Settings in the graphic optionsMany games allow you to adjust the draw distance, texture quality, or level of detail from the settings menus, allowing you to decide the balance between performance and visual quality.

As one forum user explains, "Anyone who thinks that pop-in will be eliminated in this generation, and the next, and the next... should forget it. It's been around since 3D games came along, and it's only multiplied with open worlds."If older graphics and models were used, there might not be pop-in, but neither would there be the realism we demand today.

Pop-in's impact on gameplay: Is it that serious?

The impact of pop-in on the gaming experience is subjective, but there is consensus that it can be very annoying, especially when it affects key gameplay elements or when it occurs in overly visible places.

Among the most common annoyances caused by pop-in we find:

• Loss of immersion and realism: Seeing elements suddenly appear constantly reminds the player that they are in a simulation, not a real world.
• Difficulties in gameplay: Sometimes objects, enemies or paths may appear late, causing leaps of faith, invisible traps or lack of information to make timely decisions.
• Feeling of an unpolished or unfinished product: When pop-in is excessive, it is often associated with poor optimization or lack of testing, damaging the overall perception of the game's quality.

However, Many players end up accepting pop-in as a necessary compromise to enjoy rich and detailed worlds.. Furthermore, some people barely notice it, especially if they focus on the action or story instead of analyzing the graphics down to the last detail. On consoles, it's often given even less importance, since "it gives you what it gives and that's it. On PC, there's more frame hysteria. We often stop enjoying a game because we focus more on performance than anything else; on console, that doesn't exist."

Pop-in and controversy in recent releases

The pop-in phenomenon has been a source of controversy and heated debate over high-profile releases., especially when expectations were high and technical issues marred the experience. Some notable cases:

• Cyberpunk 2077CD Projekt Red's game was heavily criticized for graphical issues, glitches, and constant pop-in, especially on less powerful consoles like PS4 and Xbox One, where some characters and vehicles would appear with low-quality textures mid-game, generating images and memes that went viral. Although patches and updates have partially mitigated the problem, many bugs persist.
• sonic frontiersThe game's technical demo, still in development, received harsh criticism for the visible pop-in of landscape objects, despite not being a final version. Sonic's speed and the openness of the environments make it difficult to hide the effect. The developer assured that all games suffer from some form of pop-in and that in this case, it was easily fixed before the final release.
• Gran Turismo 6: Analysis like Digital Foundry's highlights that car models and track details change abruptly depending on distance, with popping visible especially in replays and higher-resolution graphics modes.
• Assassin's Creed and other Ubisoft games: Various titles in the series have, in each generation, shown pop-in issues related to the number and density of NPCs, urban environments, and moving elements. With each release, Ubisoft has attempted to improve data streaming and LOD management, but the problem still hasn't completely disappeared.

In many of these cases, the studios themselves have prioritized visual spectacularity and the scale of the world over technical perfection, arguing that the overall experience makes up for these minor flaws.However, when bugs directly affect gameplay or narrative, players have shown increasing intolerance for these issues, demanding patches and higher levels of quality control.

In case you want to continue optimizing your PC for video games, we leave you this guide article on the bottleneck in video games and how to fix it.

Pop-in on consoles vs. PC: Where is it most noticeable?

One of the common debates in the gaming community is whether pop-in is more visible and annoying on consoles or PCs.The answer depends on many factors, but there are key points to keep in mind:

• On PC it is common for the user to be able to adjust advanced parameters such as draw distance, texture and model quality, or asset streaming. This helps reduce pop-in if you have a powerful rig, but it doesn't completely eliminate it in poorly optimized games.
• On consoles, settings are usually “locked” by the developer himself., which aims to offer a consistent experience. This sometimes makes popping effects more noticeable, especially when using dynamic resolutions or prioritizing frame rate over graphical detail.
• Hardware differences between generations (e.g. PS4 vs. PS5) can make a noticeable difference in the degree of visible pop-in: the more memory and disk speed (such as new generation SSDs), the more ability to prevent pop-in.

In the words of the players themselves: "The problem is that those who saw gameplay, for example, before buying the game and now have to play it with reduced graphics, surely got annoyed. I would have gotten really annoyed." The sensation of graphical "cutbacks" to ensure fluidity is one of the most common reasons for complaints.

Can games be made without pop-in? The technical utopia and the development cost

Eliminating pop-in completely would be technically possible only by giving up some of the current realism and visual richness.That is, if an open-world game were designed with PS2 or even PS1-era textures and models, all the assets could be loaded at once and there would be no popping.

However, In practice, players demand rich, detailed worlds with realistic graphics, day/night cycles, complex physics, and large viewing distances.Achieving this balance forces developers to make trade-offs: how much detail the game can afford without overwhelming the hardware resources.

Some studios, like Polyphony Digital with Gran Turismo, have innovated by introducing techniques like adaptive tessellation, which dynamically adjusts the level of detail based on distance and camera angle. Others have opted for advanced engines like Unreal Engine 5, which, with its "Nanite" system, promises to minimize pop-in by loading and rendering only the strictly necessary polygons.

However, even the most advanced titles still exhibit popping under certain circumstances, especially under extreme hardware stress. The cost of production increases exponentially if you want to completely eliminate the effect, and many times resources and time make it unfeasible..

The importance of testing and patching in the modern era

In recent years, the role of testing and post-release patches has become increasingly important in combating pop-in. and other visual issues. Unlike previous generations, where what came out on disc was final, it's common these days for games to receive multiple updates that fix or minimize these issues.

Platforms like Steam and the console stores themselves allow immediate downloads of optimization patches, which means that some of the polishing work is shifted to the weeks following release. This has also led to players themselves acting as "beta testers," reporting bugs and glitches that the development teams fix on the fly.

Still, This situation has sparked criticism from the community, which is demanding more finished products that are less dependent on "day-one" patches.. In many forums, comments reflect both resignation (“I prefer to wait for patches to come out to fix it, before playing the whole thing like shit”) and weariness (“the game runs badly, very slow and freezes for a few seconds… Shit, the game was really badly optimized xD”).

Crisis of expectations and the importance of communication with the user

Many cases of frustration and anger over the pop-in come from poor management of pre-launch expectationsGames are often marketed with trailers and demos rendered in ideal conditions, or even on much higher-end equipment than the average console or PC on the market. When the final product falls short of this level of detail or exhibits defects like popping, the feeling of being "cheated" increases.

Some developers have opted for transparency, explaining that certain visual effects are due to technical limitations and that, given the circumstances, it's a price to pay for the game's scale and ambition. Others, however, have erred in silence or overpromised ("visual downgrades"), which has seriously damaged their image in the eyes of the community.

Clear communication about limitations and realistic work on optimization could avoid many unnecessary clashes and improve player tolerance for these types of failures..

How to Reduce Pop-In: Practical Tips for Players

While completely avoiding pop-in is not in the hands of the end user, there are certain recommendations to minimize its occurrence, especially in PC games.

• Update graphics card driversMany popping issues are due to incompatibilities or old driver versions that don't handle asset loading correctly.
• Increase virtual memory allocation and close other applications while the game is running: This allows the title to have more resources and load more elements simultaneously.
• Use SSD drives instead of traditional HDDs: Data streaming is much faster on solid-state drives, reducing the late appearance of textures and objects.
• Adjust graphic settings: Decreasing the shadow quality, vegetation density, or draw distance can reduce popping, although it means sacrificing some visual appeal.
• Restart the game after long periods of session: Some titles experience memory management issues after several hours of play, making the pop-in more noticeable.

On consoles, the options are more limited., but restarting your console, wiping your hard drive, or making sure you download the latest patches can help improve the situation.

The future of pop-in: is the end near?

The arrival of new technologies and advanced graphics engines promises to significantly reduce pop-in, but not eliminate it completely in the short term.Some of the most promising developments are:

• Ultra-fast storage systems (NVMe SSDs) like those in the PS5 and Xbox Series X, which allows data to be loaded at speeds never seen before, making it easier to stream scenarios without sudden jumps.
• Engines like Unreal Engine 5 (Nanite), capable of handling billions of polygons without impacting performance, minimizing the need to switch between low and high resolution models.
• On-demand rendering and artificial intelligenceSome engines are experimenting with algorithms that can predict where the player will move, preloading the most likely elements and thus avoiding popping in the immediate line of sight.

However, The growing demand for photorealistic graphics and ever-expanding worlds will continue to impose technical limits and force developers to resort to all sorts of tricks and optimizations.Popping, although mitigated, will likely remain with us to a greater or lesser extent for the next few years.

The community and the culture of “haterism” in the face of pop-in

The pop-in has been the subject of ridicule, memes, and attacks among fan communities, especially when comparing the performance of different platforms or rival franchises.On forums and social media, it's easy to find examples of how some audiences are attacking rival games or specific studios due to popping or graphical glitches.

“The best part of the whole story was the #DelaySonicFrontiers hashtag, for such a minor thing that can be easily resolved. Some people, like me, didn't even know what pop-in was until people started tearing their hair out; because we simply don't notice the little trees in the landscape, wondering if they loaded half a second later than the rest,” one user comments. Others criticize companies like Ubisoft or CD Projekt Red for releasing “unfinished” games, while some argue that these problems are inherent to current technology.

The reality is that pop-in rarely affects all players equally: the most technical players detect and criticize it, while others barely notice it if the gameplay and story are satisfactory..