While we continue to wait for an official announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6, there is fresh food from the rumor mill. A new patent could indicate significantly smarter NPCs in GTA 6 than we are used to from video games.
Via Reddit a new patent from publisher Take-Two Interactive has been increasingly discussed in recent days. As is well known, this also includes the development studio Rockstar Games, which is responsible for the GTA series – and that could possibly make good use of this new patent in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6. It is about the AI and navigation skills of NPCs, i.e. not characters controlled by players themselves within a game world.
Registered in October 2020 with the description as “system and method for virtual navigation in a gaming environment”, the patent aims to ensure that the AI of NPCs acts much smarter and thus ensures a more organic and lively game world.
According to the registration, the background to the advance is that “conventional systems only provide limited resources” for developers to enliven their game worlds with active elements. Often these NPCs are based on scripts that are only available in limited numbers. For example, NPCs often drive at the same speed in a vehicle, follow the same routes or do the same things over and over again.
Among other things, the patent is intended to help Rockstar establish new systems that create “a realistic virtual world that is not limited by hardware or software”. Among other things, it should be possible through the use of technology to give NPCs different personalities. Such a character in a certain vehicle could therefore, for example, intentionally head for alternative routes in order to avoid traffic jams. An NPC who does not feel comfortable behind the wheel may drive significantly slower with the onset of dusk.
It remains to be seen whether the patent will actually find its way into the new GTA 6 in such a form; This has not yet been officially confirmed, which is hardly surprising, because GTA 6 has not yet been officially announced. However, references such as “high-speed chase” or “ambieten traffic” strongly suggest that patent registration could actually be about the next Grand Theft Auto.
The long-awaited new Heist The Cayo Perico awaits you in GTA Online.
