GTA IV gets patch for PS3 freezing issues

Rockstar Games has announced that a patch for Grand Theft Auto IV's multi-player component on the PlayStation 3 is now available for download.

Last week, Take-Two and Rockstar's GTA IV debuted to much fanfare, both critically and commercially. However, soon after the game's record-breaking launch, word began to circulate that freezing issues were marring the experience for some gamers, with PlayStation 3 users reporting the lion's share of the problems. Rockstar forwarded all requests for comment on to Sony, and Take-Two offered a laundry list of proposed solutions through its tech-support service.

According to Rockstar's statement, GTA IV's multiplayer game -- which sold 3.7 million copies on day one and 6 million for its opening week across the PS3 and Xbox 360 -- was putting too much of a strain on its strain on its hosting partner's servers.

"Rockstar Games has released a GTA IV patch for PlayStation 3 today that prevents Gamespy's servers from being overloaded and therefore reduces the impact on those servers that were causing the game to stutter and lock up," said Rockstar in a statement. "We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline and will provide further updates as necessary. We want to assure everyone that, together with our hardware partners, we continue to strive to give our fans the best possible interactive entertainment experiences possible. This update will ensure that everyone will experience Grand Theft Auto IV the way it was intended. We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused."

Rockstar did not elaborate on how, exactly, the patch will influence server load, and the publisher had not responded to requests for comment as of press time. The publisher also had not provided any additional information about attempts to remedy less widespread reports of the 360 edition of GTA IV locking up.