Grand Theft Auto 6: The patent provides traces of significantly better NPCs

While we are still waiting for the official announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6, new food is available from the rumor mill. A new patent on GTA6 may suggest significantly better NPCs than we are accustomed to from video games.

Via Reddit A new patent from Take-to-Interactive Publisher has been the subject of much discussion over the past few days. As is well known, this includes development studio Rockstar games responsible for the GTA series – and could make good use of this new patent on the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6. It’s about NPCs’ AI and navigation capabilities, not the characters controlled by players in a game world.

The patent, registered in October 2020 with the description “Method and method for virtual navigation in the gaming environment”, seeks to ensure that NPCs’ AI operates more intelligently, thus ensuring a more organic and vibrant game world.

According to the post, the background in advance is that developers “provide only limited resources for custom systems” to revive their game worlds with active components. Often these NPCs are based on a limited number of available scripts. So, for example, NPCs often drive at the same speed in a vehicle, following the same routes or doing the same things over and over again.

Among other things, patenting allows Rockstar to install new systems that create “a virtual virtual world not defined by hardware or software.” Among other things, using technology can give NPCs different personalities. Therefore, such behavior in a particular vehicle may deliberately take alternate routes to avoid traffic jams. An NPC that is not comfortable behind the wheel can run considerably slower at dusk.

It remains to be seen whether the patent will actually go into the new GTA6 in such a format; This has not yet been officially confirmed, which is not surprising, as GTA 6 has not yet been officially announced. However, references such as “high speed chase” or “ambitane traffic” confirm that the patent record may actually be about the next Grand Theft Auto.