GTA 6 was almost too much for South Korean ratings board GCRB, who struggled to agree whether the game should be approved or not. The board cited “out of context genital nudity” as the sticking point.
Rockstar sent an application for a South Korean rating on September 1. The initial vote, held on September 10, ended in a tie, with three votes for classification refusal and three for an Adults Only rating.
InvenGlobal acquired the meeting minutes from the voting sessions, where some board members argued for classification refusal over in-game nudity. When voting resulted in a tie, they chose to postpone the decision while awaiting a playable build of the game.
A GTA 6 build was delivered to the committee on September 28 and an initial revisit of the board was postponed twice for a more “sufficient gameplay examination.” That’s one way to get to play it early.
After being initially pushed from October 2 to October 8, it was pushed once more and the committee met again on October 18. The second review passed a vote for an Adults Only rating with eight voting in favor of the rating and one voting against classification.
The content descriptors were assigned as “Sensuality, Violence, Crime, Drugs, and Language.” That first one, “Sensuality,” was the issue.
According to the report, the committee took particular issue with male nudity without any sexual context. The South Korean ratings board revised its regulation rules in September 2025, but previously even a suggestion of nudity could land a game with an Adults Only rating.
After the revision, this wording changed to “cases where suggestive bodily exposure is directly and specifically depicted.” GTA 6 was the first game to run into the new, apparently more relaxed, rules. No such rules exist for crime or drug depictions.
A rating refusal would have blocked the release of GTA 6 in South Korea entirely. According to the report, the ratings board felt pressure with potentially being the sole country to refuse classification to the biggest game of the year.
Last month, GTA 6 received an age rating of PEGI 18, which included mentions of “decapitation,” the ability for players to snort cocaine at any time, “scenes of sexual fetishes,” and much more. The rating, since deleted, described GTA 6’s violence as “bloody with a high degree of realism.” Some weapons will be more brutal than others, with some said to be “able to cause greater damage, such as detailed decapitation and dismemberment.” Rockstar has made drug use “frequent and prominent,” with players able to partake in illicit substances. Cocaine is said to be especially important in Vice City, with the rating promising that Jason and Lucia will be able to use the substance directly from their inventory, as it can be “snorted directly from their hand at any time.”
The GTA 6 PEGI description also touched on “strong sexual themes,” which include “nudity, scenes of intercourse, and occasional scenes of sexual fetishes.” None of this should come as much of a surprise, given the GTA 6 launch trailer teases steamy shower scenes between Jason and Lucia.
Not long now: GTA 6 is out on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S. IGN’s latest coverage includes speculation about a potential beloved legacy character from a previous game hiding in the latest GTA 6 trailer, and the release of new GTA 6 footage that looks so real fans actually thought it was real-life.
