Exciting GTA 6 Online patent supports leaks claiming huge player counts for returning Vice City

GTA Online is a massive moneymaker for Rockstar. While there are qualms blaming it for the lack of story DLC for both GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, the reality is that GTA Online has become a huge source of income for Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive, and it still remains wildly popular after beginning in 2013. GTA 6 is going to be much bigger than Grand Theft Auto 5 regarding single-player content, and the same is expected of GTA 6 Online. We haven’t seen or heard anything about the Online yet, but an exciting GTA 6 Online patent supports alleged leaks claiming huge player counts for Vice City.

GTA 6 Online leak claims huge player counts

As cited by PCGamer, Fravilys, a one-time editor on French fansite Rockstar Mag, has shared details about GTA 6 Online on The Medium, allegedly from an “inside source”. In short, Fravilys claims that Rockstar are currently working with 64-player servers, and the ultimate ambition is to push said number to 96. Whether Rockstar end up on 64 or 96, either is a big improvement over GTA 5 which is limited to 32-players per session.

Whether the alleged leak is accurate or not, a much bigger player count is supported by a Take-Two Interactive patent from 2021. This patent is labelled, “System and method for session management in a multiplayer network gaming environment,” and it was invented by Rockstar developers Robert Schmitz and Phillip Degarmo, although Phillip Degarmo left Rockstar in 2023.

The patent doesn’t specifically namedrop GTA 6 Online, but it’s clearly for the project. Basically, the patent discusses how Rockstar’s “system allows for seamless merging and splitting of network sessions in a multiplayer network gaming environment,” and how “Seamless session management allows dynamic movement of players in a virtual world during gameplay without unnecessary loading and/or stalling”.

There’s no specific number of players listed, but the patent says, “As virtual space in the world becomes larger, more players must occupy the space for the world to feel populated”. We already know the open-world of GTA 6 is going to be much bigger than GTA 5’s Los Santos, and this supports the notion that Rockstar are planning a larger player-count.

As for how to “accommodate the very large player count,” it will be achieved through “seamless splitting and merging of network sessions”. This basically means the open-world map of Vice City will be split into sessions, and players will be able to seamlessly travel from different locations/sessions without needing to disconnect and without any unnecessary loading or stalling. Again, no specifics are mentioned in the patent, but a likely example is travelling from Vice City to one of the other map locations such as Port Gellhorn.

Remember that, although Take-Two Interactive’s patent basically spells out a much larger player count for GTA 6 Online, numbers of 64 and as a high as 96-players are just rumors. Doubling GTA 5 Online’s maximum players per session is more than feasible, but it will be interesting to see if Rockstar are able to exceed 64 in any capacity, let alone 96.

In other Grand Theft Auto 6 news, GTA 6 has appeared on the PSN store in countries Grand Theft Auto has previously been banned, and recent Rockstar job listings suggest the game is poised for a huge marketing campaign all over the world.