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South Korea almost refused a rating for GTA 6, Inven reports
Inven, citing Game Content Rating Board minutes, reports that a September 10 review of Grand Theft Auto VI tied 3-3 between Adults Only and refusal. The board later passed it Adults Only, 8-1, on October 16.
TIGGEEK Newsroom · · 2 min read
South Korea's Game Content Rating Board came close to refusing an age rating for Grand Theft Auto VI before classifying it Adults Only, according to meeting minutes obtained by the outlet Inven. A refusal would have blocked a domestic release.
The account below follows Inven's November 11, 2026, report of those minutes, which PC Gamer has also covered, attributing the documents to Inven.
How the votes went
Inven says the rating application was submitted on September 1. At the first review, on September 10, the committee tied 3–3 between Adults Only and rating refusal, then postponed a decision after a recommendation for modification. A playable build was not delivered until September 28, Inven reports, citing security concerns.
A second review on October 2 postponed the decision again, the minutes say, because members wanted "sufficient gameplay examination." A session scheduled for October 8 was canceled for lack of a quorum. On October 16, in a third review, the board voted 8–1 for Adults Only, with one vote for refusal.
Inven says the assigned content descriptors are Sensuality, Violence, Crime, Drugs, and Language.
What the committee was arguing about
The issue, according to Inven's report of the minutes, was not the game's violence. Committee members focused on frequent male genital nudity that appeared without a sexual context, including in backgrounds and during missions. Members who argued for an Adults Only rating, PC Gamer notes in its summary of the same minutes, said scenes with heavy exposure were "not particularly sexual," while sexual scenes had more limited exposure.
This article is not describing those scenes in any more detail, and it is not publishing or linking unofficial images.
Inven also places the debate in the context of a September 2025 revision to South Korea's classification language, which, the outlet says, relaxed an earlier standard that had more readily pushed genital exposure toward refusal. GTA V, Inven notes, received an Adults Only rating in 2013.
Online speculation that smaller preload sizes in some countries point to a regional cut is unconfirmed, and this article is not treating it as fact.
The takeaway
According to Inven's report of the GCRB minutes, Grand Theft Auto VI was one vote-tie and two postponements away from a much harder path in South Korea, then passed 8–1 as Adults Only on October 16. The board's recorded concern was frequent, non-sexual genital nudity in the build it reviewed. The game now has a path to release in that market under an Adults Only rating.
Cover image: The Seoul skyline along the Han River, photographed by USAGI_POST. Released under CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. The photo is a city view, not official Grand Theft Auto VI artwork or a screenshot from the game.
Key facts
- First review
- September 10, 3–3 tie, Adults Only vs. refusal, per Inven
- Final vote
- October 16, Adults Only 8–1, per Inven
- Issue
- Frequent, non-sexual male genital nudity in backgrounds and missions, per the minutes as reported by Inven
- Descriptors
- Sensuality, Violence, Crime, Drugs, and Language
- Regional cuts
- Unconfirmed; not treated as fact here