South Korea’s rating board split 3-3 on refusing GTA 6 before giving it an Adults Only rating, Inven reports

South Korea’s game rating board came close to refusing to classify Grand Theft Auto VI before rating it Adults Only, Inven Global reports. It reported on November 12, 2026, citing meeting minutes it obtained, that the Game Content Rating Board (GCRB), the private body that took over adult ratings for PC and console games from the state committee GRAC in November 2025, voted 3-3 between an Adults Only rating and refusal at its first review on September 10. On October 16 it rated the game Adults Only by 8 votes to 1. The outcome was an Adults Only rating, not a ban.

This is Inven’s account of the board’s private discussions. We found no comment from Rockstar, and we have not seen the minutes ourselves. Inven edited the members’ statements for clarity, and its English article is a translation from Korean, so the quotes below are Inven’s English wording, not a transcript.

According to Inven, the application was filed on September 1. After the tie, the board postponed its decision and recommended modifications. A playable build reached the board on September 28, which Inven says was delayed by security concerns. At a second review on October 2 the board postponed again, and a meeting on October 8 was cancelled for lack of a quorum.

Inven says the sticking point was nudity, not violence. It says members focused on what they described as male genital nudity that appears often in the background, without a sexual context. One member said exposure had “never appeared this frequently without context”. Inven says members saw the violence, crime and drug content as not much different from GTA 5, which received the same rating in 2013.

One of three provisions the board examined as a legal ground for refusal, Inven says, was Article 32, Paragraph 2, Item 3 of the Game Industry Promotion Act, which in Inven’s translation bars making or importing games that “excessively depict crime, violence, obscenity, etc., likely to disrupt social order”. Several members said a refusal needs a firm legal basis. Inven also says ten rating bodies abroad had given the game adult ratings by October 16.

The final descriptors, Inven says, were sensuality, violence, crime, drugs and language. Inven also says the minutes do not show whether any scenes were changed after the first review, so that remains unknown. Inven adds that the publisher asked for the result to stay non-public until November 19. The outcome itself is already visible: South Korea’s PlayStation Store shows a 19+ rating mark for the game (checked November 12).

PC Gamer and GamesRadar+ have also covered the minutes. Both credit Inven and add no reporting of their own on the board, so the account of the debate rests on Inven alone.