diff --git a/src/gui/dialogs/title_screen.cpp b/src/gui/dialogs/title_screen.cpp
index 672f2f3946af..22fbec857cb8 100644
--- a/src/gui/dialogs/title_screen.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/dialogs/title_screen.cpp
@@ -340,8 +340,6 @@ void title_screen::pre_show(window& win)
 	register_button(win, "load", hotkey::HOTKEY_LOAD_GAME, [this, &win]() {
 		if(game_.load_game()) {
 			win.set_retval(LAUNCH_GAME);
-		} else {
-			game_.clear_loaded_game();
 		}
 	});
 
diff --git a/src/wesnoth.cpp b/src/wesnoth.cpp
index 0e96480de34c..89ee8670233c 100644
--- a/src/wesnoth.cpp
+++ b/src/wesnoth.cpp
@@ -884,10 +884,7 @@ static int do_gameloop(const std::vector<std::string>& args)
 
 		// If loading a game, skip the titlescreen entirely
 		if(game->is_loading()) {
-			if(!game->load_game()) {
-				game->clear_loaded_game();
-			}
-
+			game->load_game();
 			game->launch_game(should_reload);
 			continue;
 		}