Is GTA VI rated 18+? Rockstar now shows ESRB Mature 17+ and PEGI 18

Effectively, yes. Since October 1, Rockstar's official GTA VI site shows the ESRB Mature 17+ badge with its content descriptors, and the PlayStation listings for Spain and the UK show PEGI 18. We checked on October 2 on Rockstar's page and on each country's PlayStation store.

One thing worth keeping straight: in the US the line is 17+, not 18. The 18 belongs to PEGI (Europe) and to Australia.

What each region shows

• United States (ESRB): Mature 17+. Rockstar puts it on its site and the US PlayStation store now lists it as the game's rating. There are seven descriptors: blood and gore, intense violence, mature humor, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs and alcohol. That's the same list GTA V got. Rockstar also adds an "In-Game Purchases" notice.
• Spain, UK and the rest of Europe (PEGI): PEGI 18 on the PlayStation listings.
• Australia (ACB): R 18+. Press reports cite drug use, high impact violence and sex scenes. PlayStation Australia lists R 18+. New Zealand, per Heist Atlas, is R18.
• South Korea (GRAC): 19+, final for a while now.
• United Arab Emirates: 21+.
• Germany (USK), Japan (CERO) and Brazil (ClassInd): still pending or under review on PlayStation.

About the Australian MA 15+ claim

It was fake. POPTOPIC had already found records called "GTA VI" in the Australian database that weren't Rockstar's. The real rating is R 18+.

The PEGI listing that came and went

On October 2 PEGI put GTA VI's listing on its website, with PEGI 18 and a content summary far more detailed than the ESRB's. A few hours later it was gone. The page now returns "not found", and it was still down when we checked on October 3. Neither PEGI nor Rockstar has said anything. What we know of the text comes from outlets that read it before it vanished, including IGN, VGC, Eurogamer and Push Square, which all quote the same wording:

• Violence that is "bloody with a high degree of realism", with some weapons able to cause "detailed decapitation and dismemberment".
• Drug use that is "frequent and prominent". You can take drugs with other characters or straight from your inventory, and cocaine can be carried around and snorted from your hand at any time.
• Nudity, scenes of intercourse and "occasional scenes of sexual fetishes".
• Paid private dances in clubs, during which the game lets the player touch the dancers.
• Domestic animals that can be harmed, in less detail than people.
• Discriminatory language on in-game TV and radio, plus optional purchases you don't need to play.

Since the original listing can no longer be checked, we're treating these details as reported rather than confirmed. The PEGI 18 rating itself is still shown on the PlayStation listings.

What's still missing

The ESRB entry is now live in its database, with Mature 17+ and the same seven descriptors, but the ESRB still hasn't published its rating summary, the longer write-up that usually describes specific scenes. When it lands we should learn more about the sexual content and violence. It's also unclear what exactly the in-game purchases notice covers, since Take-Two said on September 17 that the game launches without recurrent spending.

Why it matters

The provisional label we saw a few days ago is gone, and the game now carries a visible rating on Rockstar's site and in stores. In the UK and Germany, selling an 18 rated game to a minor is an offence, and in Australia R 18+ means age verification for online play.

Updated October 3 with the pulled PEGI listing and the ESRB entry. Before this date, this article said the rating wasn't official yet.