Grand Theft Auto VI now has its Japanese age rating. The game’s product pages on Japan’s PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store list it as CERO Z, the 18-and-over tier sold only to adults, with content icons for crime and violence. That’s the same rating and the same pair of icons Grand Theft Auto V carried in Japan, as Game*Spark and Denfaminicogamer both reported Saturday.
Japan was the last major market without a final rating. According to Game*Spark, the Japanese listing stayed at “pending review” after North American and European ratings surfaced on Oct. 2, and the rating still read as pending in the launch trailer Rockstar released this week. Rockstar’s own Japanese press release for that trailer, dated Oct. 16, also listed the CERO rating as pending review.
When RCG checked the Japanese storefronts Saturday afternoon, the Xbox listing showed “18 and over only” alongside “violence, crime,” and the PlayStation Store page carried CERO Z’s adults-only purchase notice. Both stores note that CERO Z games can only be bought with a credit card.
How it lines up overseas
The Japanese rating matches what other regions already show. In North America, the ESRB rates the game M for Mature 17+, and in Europe, PEGI rates it 18. Game*Spark notes that the overseas descriptors cite blood and gore, intense violence and strong sexual content, and that listings in Australia and New Zealand specifically mention sex scenes. RCG reported earlier this month on a PEGI 18 listing that spelled out cocaine, nudity and dismemberment before the page came down.
Will Japan get a different version?
That’s the open question, and no one has answered it yet. Game*Spark and Denfaminicogamer both say there has been no official word on whether the Japanese release will differ from the overseas versions. Rockstar hasn’t announced any changes for Japan.
There is precedent. According to Game*Spark, the Japanese release of Grand Theft Auto V was also rated CERO Z but still had its sexual scenes altered and some of its more graphic violence removed. Since the overseas ratings for the new game flag both sexual content and gore, Game*Spark says how those scenes are handled will decide whether the Japanese version is changed and by how much. A matching CERO Z rating on its own doesn’t settle it either way.
Price and release
Pre-orders are open in Japan. Rockstar’s Japanese press release and the PlayStation Store list the Standard Edition at ¥9,800 and the Ultimate Edition at ¥12,280, tax included. Grand Theft Auto VI launches Nov. 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
