IGN’s Michael Cripe reports that Grand Theft Auto VI drew a PEGI 18 listing whose content notes, which IGN says it read on the PEGI site, described frequent realistic violence, including detailed decapitation and dismemberment; frequent drug use, with cocaine that can be carried and snorted from the player’s hand at any time; and nudity, intercourse, and occasional sexual fetishes, plus paid private dances where the player can move their hands onto dancers. IGN’s update, timestamped October 2, 2026, at 11:39 a.m. PT (1:39 p.m. CT), says that page was then replaced with a not-found listing and that IGN asked PEGI for comment.
That account is of a page IGN says is no longer up, not a listing still live in this story. IGN wrote that PEGI “has seemingly updated its website to remove the age rating for GTA 6,” and that the PEGI 18 page it viewed “is no longer available.” In its place, IGN says, is a blank listing: “The requested page could not be found.” IGN adds that people on X have shared a captured image of the listing. The piece says IGN contacted PEGI and does not include a reply.
What IGN says the page spelled out
IGN presents the lines below as wording from the page it viewed. Push Square’s October 2 writeup by Liam Croft quotes the same violence paragraph and the same cocaine sentence, and paraphrases the private-dance scene. Push Square does not describe the page coming down.
- Violence, as IGN quotes it and Push Square repeats: “This game contains frequent depictions of violence; due to the free roam nature of the game the player can harm all other characters inhabiting the environment. This includes civilians, criminals and the authorities. Violence is bloody with a high degree of realism, with certain weapons being able to cause greater damage such as detailed decapitation and dismemberment.”
- Drugs, in that same shared wording: “Drug use is frequent and prominent with the player being able to partake in drug use with others and to use illegal drugs directly from their inventory. Most notably, cocaine can be carried around by the player and snorted directly from their hand at any time.”
- Sexual content, in IGN’s quotation: “There are also strong sexual themes, including nudity, scenes of intercourse and occasional scenes of sexual fetishes. In various night clubs the player can also pay for private dances, during which, the game allows the player to move their hands onto the dancers’ breasts and buttocks.”
IGN also says that reading named playable criminals Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, “two criminals who become involved in a criminal conspiracy following a failed robbery,” who then become “increasingly entangled in criminal activities” in Vice City. Both outlets pass on further notes from the text: domestic animals can be harmed, with less injury detail than human characters; “fuck” is prominent and “cunt” appears only occasionally; discriminatory language can be heard in TV shows and on radio channels. IGN says the listing also told players they would have the option to purchase in-game items, without saying what those items are. Neither writeup quotes Rockstar confirming any of those mechanics.
On the U.S. rating, IGN alone says the PEGI 18 page arrived one day after an ESRB rating of Mature. This story is not opening a separate ESRB filing, and it is not assigning a PEGI content-descriptor code. Grand Theft Auto VI remains dated November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in both stories. That date sits beside the rating notes; it is not a new window. RCG’s earlier Game Informer Leonida cover story is separate coverage.
