Which Countries Will Ban Grand Theft Auto VI at Launch?

Grand Theft Auto VI faces regulatory headwinds before its November 19 launch, with pre-orders already blocked in at least eight countries and several others signalling potential post-release restrictions. 

The restrictions affect both the standard edition and the included one-month GTA+ subscription, though import routes may remain available to players in those regions.

Countries GTA 6 is banned in

Rockstar Games has already started pre-orders of GTA 6 for $79.99 in the current week; however, the PlayStation Store in Bahrain, China, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, and Taiwan lists the title as unavailable for purchase.

The country has banned the entire franchise ever since 2008, when a teen murdered a taxi driver using GTA games as his motivation. Tajikistan banned the series by the end of 2024 for criminal reasons.

Germany, Japan, and Australia have been requiring heavily censored versions of previous titles because of violent, criminal and sexually explicit content. Saudi Arabia and the UAE banned GTA V for 12 years until its lifting in 2025; nevertheless, GTA VI can be ordered from these countries.

Players cannot officially purchase GTA VI because PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam withdrew their shopfronts due to international sanctions. Beyond infrastructure issues, a Russian official has publicly pushed to ban the game as "Western propaganda", hitting at the potential post-launch opposition independent of platform availability.