GTA 6 Rated USK 18: Germany's Board Has Decided
Germany's rating is in. The USK, the country's games rating board, now lists Grand Theft Auto VI in its public database for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. Both entries carry the same decision: "keine Jugendfreigabe gemäß § 14 JuSchG", the red USK 18 label. This is Confirmed: we searched the USK's own database on 17 October 2026 and read both entries.
What the USK entries say
The USK's title database returns two entries for "Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6)", one per platform. Both list Take-Two Interactive GmbH as publisher, the genre as "Genremix" and the age rating as "keine Jugendfreigabe gemäß § 14 JuSchG". That is the board's wording for "no release to minors", and the USK 18 label.
The reasons are the same on both, in the board's German:
- "Drastische Gewalt" (explicit violence): the violence is clearly visualised or given exaggerated focus.
- "Drogen" (drugs): drugs or drug use are shown positively or frequently.
- "Kriminelle Rollenbilder" (criminal role models): criminal acts are presented without criticism or played down. The USK names robberies and illegal street races shown as adventures as examples.
Both entries also carry the usage note "Enthält: In-Game-Käufe", the board's label for in-game purchases. We can't tell from the entry what is for sale. Rockstar hasn't said, and the USK note only means the game offers direct purchases of some kind.
| Entry | Platform | Prüfdatum (review date) | USK number | Language field |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PlayStation 5 | 13.10.2026 | 59715/26 | multilingual |
| 2 | Xbox Series | 13.09.2026 | 59552/26 | empty |
Take the dates as the database prints them. A Prüfdatum is the day the board reviewed the game, not the day the entry went live. Our check of the same database on 6 October found no GTA VI entry, so both went public after that, even though the Xbox review date is from September. We can't narrow the publication date further, and we aren't going to guess why the two review dates sit a month apart.
The German stores moved first
Our store watcher recorded the shift on the morning of 16 October. The German listings had said "USK Rating Pending" (PlayStation) and "Einstufung ausstehend" (Xbox). Both now show the finished label. When we re-fetched them today, the PlayStation Store Germany listing carried "USK 18" with the in-game purchases note and descriptors for explicit violence, drugs and problematic role models. The Xbox Store Germany showed "USK ab 18 Jahren".
Store labels are Reported on their own. They are metadata from Sony and Microsoft. Here they match the USK's database, which is why the decision itself is Confirmed.
Where the other boards stand
Two boards now have a final decision on record. The ESRB listed GTA 6 as Mature 17+ on 3 October at the latest, which we covered in ESRB Lists GTA 6 as Mature 17+. PEGI still returned "No results found" for Grand Theft Auto VI when we searched its database on 17 October. We did not get a result from Australia's Classification Board today, so that one stays open in our age rating guide.
The USK, PEGI and ESRB each decide separately. A German 18 doesn't make the PEGI label official. GTA V ended up at PEGI 18 as well, and GTA 6 may follow, but that is an expectation, not an entry.
What USK 18 means for you
For a German buyer the practical answer to "ab wie viel Jahren ist GTA 6" is now: 18. The game is not for sale to minors in Germany. Nothing in the entry changes the date, the price or the editions. The standard price and the midnight timing the PlayStation Store lists for Germany, Austria and Switzerland are on our German page GTA 6 in Deutschland, and the editions guide compares what you get for the money.
The release is still 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, per Rockstar's official page. The countdown shows what is left, and everything we know about GTA 6 keeps the confirmed facts in one place.