There's an ad currently doing the rounds that makes it look like Grand Theft Auto VI will carry an "X 18+" rating in Australia. It almost certainly will not, because that rating does not exist for video games over in the land down under. The label came from a PlayStation ad for the Ultimate Edition and is very likely a mistake.
The claim started with a screenshot after a PlayStation Ultimate Edition ad carrying an "X 18+ RESTRICTED" mark in the corner was spotted and flagged as a step up from the R 18+ rating Grand Theft Auto V got. The Australian ad has since reportedly been taken down while other regional versions continue to stay up. However, no official rating from Australia's Classification Board or Rockstar Games has confirmed anything of the sort.
While it makes sense for a Grand Theft Auto title to receive a "Mature" rating or whatever equivalent exists for a particular territory, an X 18+ isn't technically possible for games in Australia. There, the classification board can rate games G, PG, M, MA 15+, R 18+ or Refused Classification, which is an outright ban and X 18+ is a film-only category reserved for real, non-simulated sexual content with no violence at all.
So the only step up left for GTA in Australia past R 18+ isn't X 18+ but rather a refused classification and a total ban. The rating shown in the ad is not one GTA 6 could receive even in theory.
The real story is the other ratings that surfaced this week
Region | Rating shown | Status |
|---|---|---|
Europe and UK (PEGI) | PEGI 18 | Now on the PlayStation Store page, previously provisional |
Germany (USK) | USK 18 | Spotted in PlayStation ads |
Mexico | D (adults) | Spotted in PlayStation ads |
North America (ESRB) | Rating pending, likely Mature | No final entry yet |
Australia | X 18+, briefly | Ad pulled, not an official decision |
The Australian label was the outlier, the rest point to a rating where GTA always lands.
In other territories, PEGI 18 has moved from provisional onto the actual store page in Europe and the UK, Germany's USK 18 and Mexico's D rating both showed up in the ads and North America's ESRB listing is still pending but expected to land at Mature. These are marketing materials rather than formal board announcements, but they all confirm something that we've known all along.
Every mainline GTA has been an adults-only game. GTA 6, with its confirmed strong violence, sex and drug content, was never going to be anything else. The interesting question for Australia specifically is not X 18+, which is off the table, but whether the final rating lands on R 18+ like GTA V or the MA 15+ that some provisional listings have shown.
With that said, the real ratings should roll out ahead of the November 19 launch, and they'll say exactly what everyone has already assumed for years.