If I recall reading, someone from Obsidian came out and said the engine was the issue (IGN):
One user asks Sawyer if the size of the save file is indeed the cause of these issues. Sawyer responded by saying that the size of save files could "be a big problem, especially if you're on the PS3. The longer you play a character, the more bit differences on objects (characters, pencils on tables, containers, etc.) get saved off and carried around in memory." His mention of "bit differences" is a reference to a bit field, which is a way data can be stored.
Another user angrily asks Mr. Sawyer about why games are released in such poor condition, to which he answered that Skyrim's problems are "an engine-level issue with how the save game data is stored…" Many other users are angry at Bethesda Game Studios for Skyrim's subpar performance on PS3, however, but Sawyer defends Bethesda. "It's not like someone wrote a function and put a decimal point in the wrong place… We're talking about how the engine fundamentally saves off and references data at run time. Restructuring how that works would require a large time commitment."
Yet another user asked Sawyer if these problems are exclusive to PlayStation 3, which he answered, "as with Fallout 3 and Skyrim, the problems are most pronounced on the PS3 because the PS3 has a divided memory pool." When pressed on what a "divided memory pool" means, Sawyer clarified: "The Xbox 360 has a unified memory pool: 512 megs of RAM usable as system memory or graphics memory. The PS3 has a divided memory pool: 256 megs for system, 256 for graphics. It's the same total amount of memory, but not as flexible for a developer to make use of."
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As for Oblivion PS3, you also have to keep in mind that the port was the only version being worked on at the time. With Skyrim, Bethesda was working on 3 versions and obviously gave priority to 2 of them over the PS3 version. So the PS3 Oblivion team had only the goal of getting the game up and running on the PS3 to the best of their ability. However, you would think Bethesda would be able to use their work as a blueprint for the PS3 versions of their games going forward.
Bethesda in my mind has a non-existant QA team but lazy/poor programming comes to mind as well. The fact that they can win 'Developer of the Year' awards when they put out technical trainwrecks is amazing. I do wish someone would actually put out something decently capable in the same genre to make Bethesda step up their game as a result, atleast on the quality side of things. If another developer came along and put out a game with a world in similar size and similar scope, on 3 platforms without the game breaking bugs and with all 3 versions up to par, then Bethesda would be put on the spot.
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