GTA 6 May Have Real Sex Scenes, According to PlayStation Store Rating

Grand Theft Auto 6 may include actual sex scenes, according to the age-rating description on its PlayStation Store page. The listing's wording hasn't been confirmed by the ratings boards themselves, and "sex scenes" doesn't necessarily mean explicit content, but a PEGI "sex" symbol on the UK listing suggests something stronger than the series has shown before.

The description appears if viewing the New Zealand or Australian versions of the Store, where GTA 6 is listed as containing "sex scenes". If accurate, it would make GTA 6 the first Grand Theft Auto game to depict sexual intercourse on purpose.

That qualifier matters because of the Hot Coffee scandal. A mod restored a sex mini-game that Rockstar had cut from GTA: San Andreas before release, which caused the company serious trouble. Since then, the series has featured encounters with sex workers involving some nudity, but most sex has happened off camera. The Ballad of Gay Tony, the GTA 4 expansion, had a scene that briefly showed two characters with their clothes mostly on. Oral sex has been implied a few times, but it has mostly been obscured.

How reliable is the listing?

Treat the rating text with caution. The descriptions can't be searched separately on the websites of the relevant ratings boards, even though the ESRB, PEGI and Australian Classification Board logos appear on the PlayStation Store. That may be down to embargoed information while fuller listings are prepared.

Even if the text holds up, "sex scenes" could cover a lot of ground. The UK version of the listing mentions "sexual content" and shows a PEGI symbol for "sex". That symbol is also attached to Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, both of which have fairly graphic sex scenes. It isn't attached to The Blood of Dawnwalker, which has partial nudity and sexual content, so GTA 6's rating does point to something more explicit.

Not much of a surprise

The game follows a couple, Jason and Lucia, and their romance is a central part of the story. An official GTA 6 trailer also appears to show the beginnings of a sex scene (around the 1:12 mark).

The wider industry has moved too. Intimate scenes have become far more common since GTA 5 launched in 2013, and Cyberpunk 2077, an open-world RPG often compared to GTA, includes several. A graphic sex scene in GTA 6 would hardly be provocative by current standards.

Release and other news

GTA 6 launches on November 19. Information has been arriving quickly in recent weeks, after an Extended Look trailer aired on Netflix and footage leaked from hackers ahead of it.

Rockstar is also defending itself at an employment tribunal in Scotland over the sudden removal of 31 employees last year. The company says the dismissals were for breaches of confidentiality, while the former employees allege union-busting.