Grand Theft Auto V has lastly secured a launch in Saudi Arabia 12 years after its preliminary launch, due to the introduction of a brand new 21+ age score within the area.
Rockstar Video games’ multi-million promoting crime romp arrived in Saudi Arabia and the UAE yesterday with an age score of 21+, and is accompanied by Grand Theft Auto On-line. This marks the primary time that the long-running franchise has been granted an official launch in these territories.
Associated Content material – Upcoming PS5 Video games 2025: The Finest PS5 Video games Coming Quickly
Niko Companions, a market analysis firm, had the next to say:
Traditionally, online game approvals within the area have been constrained by conservative rules resulting in a excessive variety of bans for video games that featured robust violence, sexual content material, substance use, or themes conflicting with native non secular or cultural norms.
The primary indicators of change got here in 2016, when Saudi Arabia launched localized age scores that changed their reliance on the PEGI system. This allowed titles akin to God of Struggle and Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2, which might sometimes have been banned beneath the prior system, to achieve delayed approvals after tweaks have been made to content material and localization. Nevertheless, titles like Last Fantasy XVI remained banned beneath this method after failing to satisfy native necessities.
Grand Theft Auto V was initially launched for the PS3 and Xbox 360 again in September 2013, with GTA On-line following a month later. PS4 and Xbox One ports adopted in 2014, and the sport was even ported to PS5 and Xbox Collection X/S just a few years in the past, making it accessible on three generations of console {hardware}.
Rockstar Video games is at the moment engaged on the extremely anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, which was initially due out in Fall 2025 however has now been pushed to Could 26, 2026.
Konvoy’s Josh Chapman stated earlier this week that Grand Theft Auto VI is anticipated to rake in a whopping $7.6 billion in its first two months on sale. Final month, it was reported that the story for the upcoming sequel was rejected thrice earlier than a ultimate model was accredited, resulting in the departure of Dan Houser.
[Source – Niko Partners via VGC]
