For almost 25 years, the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) video game franchise has been extremely successful. It has shipped over 370 million units and is the fifth highest selling franchise of all time. GTA V was released in 2013 and is currently the second highest selling video game of all time. Rockstar Games, GTA’s New York-based video game publisher and subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, recently announced that the next installment of the franchise is being developed but has been tight-lipped about details of the game.
Trying to get some insight on what is to come in GTA 6, diehard fans have speculated based on a patent family assigned to Take-Two Interactive that claims priority to 2017. The family includes two issued patents and one pending publication, each disclosing seamless session management that allows dynamic movement of players in a virtual world during gameplay without unnecessary loading and/or stalling.
Players of the games have hypothesized that the lack of unnecessary loading screens, which currently plague online users in GTA V, will allow the new game to have a much larger sandbox style map that allows users to seamlessly enter different zones and interact with others. Such a map, if effectively implemented, could greatly improve the online gaming experience of GTA and bring the franchise even more popularity.
Although such an idea has excited fans, it is too soon to tell whether these features will be incorporated in GTA 6. However, the patent family remains open and is actively being prosecuted by Take-Two Interactive, and thus it may reveal more information about the game as the game continues to be developed.
