Grand Theft Auto 6 may feature actual sex scenes. The suggestion comes from an age-rating description for GTA 6 on the PlayStation Store, which states – if viewing the New Zealand or Australian versions of the Store – there are “sex scenes” in the game.

Should this be true, it could make GTA 6 the first Grand Theft Auto game to directly feature sexual intercourse. To feature it on purpose, that is; you might remember the infamous Hot Coffee scandal that surrounded GTA: San Andreas. A mod reinstated a sex mini-game Rockstar pulled out of San Andreas before release, causing all sorts of problems for the company.

Since then, GTA has featured risqué dalliances with sex workers in GTA games, involving some degree of nudity, but most actual sex scenes have happened off camera. There was that sex scene in GTA 4 expansion pack The Ballad of Gay Tony, but it only gave a brief glimpse at two characters humping with their clothes mostly on. There have been various depictions of oral sex, but again, they’ve been mostly obscured.

However, these age-rating descriptions – spotted by IGN – may not be accurate. They’re not separately searchable on the relevant age-ratings boards’ websites, despite the ESRB, PEGI and Australian Ratings Board’s logos appearing on the PlayStation Store. Presumably this has something to do with embargoed information when posting fuller listings.

Even if they are accurate, a mention of “sex scenes” doesn’t necessarily mean fully featured sex, though the UK version of the PS Store listing does mention “sexual content” and displays a symbol for “sex”. That symbol is also attached to games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, which have fairly graphic sex scenes. Indeed, the PEGI “sex” symbol being there – whereas it isn’t attached to The Blood of Dawnwalker, a game that features partial nudity and sexual content – does suggest there’s something stronger here.

Is it a surprise? GTA 6 is a story about a couple – Jason and Lucia – which certainly lends credibility to the existence of sex scenes, particularly when we know that their romantic connection is a central part of the game, and as we’ve seen what looks like the beginnings of a sex scene in an official GTA 6 trailer (jump to one minute 12 seconds).

Also, since GTA 5 came out in 2013, intimate scenes have become a lot more commonplace. There are several in GTA-like open-world RPG Cyberpunk 2077, and in Baldur’s Gate 3, and there are some in The Blood of Dawnwalker, to name but a few. For GTA 6 to feature a graphic sex scene would hardly be provocative in this day and age.

Grand Theft Auto 6 releases 19th November. There’s been a deluge of information released about GTA 6 in recent weeks, after an Extended Look trailer aired on Netflix, and after footage was leaked by hackers in the lead up to it. Meanwhile, Rockstar is battling an employment tribunal in Scotland related to the sudden removal of 31 employees last year, which it declares was done for confidentiality breaching reasons, but the former employees allege was union-busting.