As of yesterday, Grand Theft Auto VI can now be preloaded on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. If you pre-ordered one of the unlimited copies of the digital version of the game, you can get ahead of things and start installing the 209.913 GB right now—unless, that is, you live in Australia, New Zealand, or Japan. There, you’ll be downloading slightly less.
Of course you can still pre-install GTA VI in those regions, but you seemingly won’t be installing the same file as everyone else. As reported by GameSpark, users in Japan have noticed that GTA VI’s preload file size is notably smaller than the standard version available elsewhere, creating concerns that censorship might be afoot.
In most regions, GTA VI’s file size is 209.913 GB on PS5, and 209.86 GB on Xbox Series S/X. In Japan, it’s 208.725 GB on PS5 and 208.74 GB on Xbox. That’s roughly 1.19 GB smaller on PS5. The version that folks in Australia and New Zealand are getting is smaller too, but only ever so slightly, with the PS5 version of GTA VI reportedly being 0.688 MB slimmer than the standard file size.
Japanese users on X (thank you, Automaton) are certain that Japan’s notoriously harsh CERO ratings board has gutted GTA VI’s hornier and more violent content, and—given the 1.2 GB difference—the censorship concerns seem justified. But what’s the deal with the near-imperceptibly smaller version that players in Australia and New Zealand are getting?
“core_restofworld001” is confirmed missing from #GTAVI Australia & New Zealand version. https://t.co/IE4L7ak6mm
— Tex2 (@TexFunz2) November 9, 2026
Rockstar Games dataminer Tex2 has partially figured out the difference, as the Australian and New Zealand versions of GTA VI are missing a file chunk titled “core_restofworld001.” Obviously, at this stage, we don’t know what “core_restofworld001” contains, but we can hazard a guess:
GTA VI has dodged the dreaded “Refused Classification” rating in Australia, which limits a product’s sales in the region. Likewise, GTA VI’s rating on the Australian Classification website doesn’t appear to be different than its equivalent ESRB or PEGI ratings. However, the Australian government has taken a hard stance on in-game gambling over the past year. Several games have been refused classification in Australia simply for being gambling-related, including the 2026 indie game Gamble With Your Friends. Likewise, the casino functions in GTA Online were removed from the Australian version of the game in late July.
Kotaku has reached out to Take-Two for comment to hopefully discern the differences between the versions of GTA VI in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
