PS5 Won’t Have Loading Screens, Patent Shows

A new patent shows that Sony is working on giving the PlayStation 5 the ability to do away with loading screens.

Sony already showed the public how powerful its next-gen gaming system is. The console, known only as the PS5, is capable of loading games and scenes way faster than the current PS4 Pro. Sony previously demonstrated this by showing how both systems did loading the same video game.

While the PS4 Pro successfully loaded the video after 8 seconds, the next-gen system was able to load it in less than a second. What’s more, the next-gen system was capable of loading more scenes quicker than the PS4, as if it needed no time to load: the video, played through the next-gen system, showed the camera moving through the in-game world with no seams, choppiness or hiccups whatsoever.

If a new patent, spotted by ComicBook, is any indication, it seems that Sony wants to bring that kind of seamless gameplay to the PS5 onward and ultimately do away with those annoying loading screens.

The patent titled “System and method for dynamicaly loading game software for smooth game play,” filed years ago in 2012, described Sony’s plan for a gaming system capable of seamless gameplay. If this plan comes to fruition, players won’t have to struggle with those load points.

Without delving into the specifics, the patent simply described Sony’s plans as having to load specific game data needed long after the player reaches a certain environment in the game.

“A load boundary associated with a game environment is identified. A position of a character in the game environment is then monitored," the patent stated. "Instructions corresponding to a next game environment are loaded into a memory when the character crosses the load boundary, such that game play is not interrupted.”

Here’s how that would probably look like: Player has passed environment A in the game, and is moving towards environment B. Game data for events and location in environment C will be loaded while he is still on his way to environment B. Game data for events and location for environment D will then be loaded once he reaches environment C, or something like that.

By loading necessary game data ahead of time, Sony hopes to do away with loading screens. It is unsure, however, if the PS5 will have this kind of tech. The company still has a few years to work on that, which means players just might see it on the next-gen gaming console.