PlayStation maker Sony have patented some new tech with the aim of eliminating loading screens from games in which it's used.
The company should release the PS5 next year and it's looking to make it their most user-friendly system. Lowering loading times or ridding games of them completely would surely work to push some PS5s.
Details of the patent, which could be found here, describe the venture as a "System and method for dynamically loading game software for smooth gameplay." It's explained that the system can monitor the player's character and use the data garnered to load new areas in preparation for the player's approach.
"A load boundary associated with a game environment is identified," it reads. "A position of a character in the game environment is then monitored. Instructions corresponding to another game environment are loaded into a memory when the character crosses the load boundary, such that gameplay is not interrupted."
Basically, this means that the game will detect that a player is approaching an environmental boundary that is currently loaded and will be able to load the next area before one even gets there so that it can be displayed as soon as the boundary is reached.
Load time decrease is understood to be a particular focus for both Sony and Microsoft, so this hardly comes as a surprise. The upcoming next-gen PlayStation will be fitted with a Solid State Drive that saves data via flash memory. Microsoft's Project Scarlett will also feature an SSD, something which will likely spell a reduction in or the elimination of load times.
Loading screens won't suddenly be a thing of the past, though, according to what the patent states. The description is more focused on screens or times that interrupt gameplay, not those that appear during boot-up.
As advanced as technology has become, it seems unlikely that we'll be able to simply start up a game and begin playing right away, with zero loading screens. A reduction wherever possible will certainly be welcomed by the gaming world, however.