It took 12 years, but Grand Theft Auto 5 is now legal in Saudi Arabia

12 years after its original release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto 5 is now legal to purchase and own in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The game was given a surprise 21+ rating in June by Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Media Regulation and the UAE Media Council, and officially released in both countries today.

As noted by industry analysis firm Niko Partners, the lack of official approval for GTA 5 didn't mean it was actually unavailable. Gamers could opt to import the game from other countries (with some risk that it might be seized by customs, I suppose) or simply sign up for a digital storefront account based in another country.

But a green light from the authorities removes those headaches and allows the game to be publicized as a "hey, you can buy this" kind of thing, which I have to think will spark at least a small bump in sales.

The real big deal, though, is the shift in attitude the GTA approval signals. The 21+ rating, which according to Niko Partners is new—it's not even listed on the General Authority for Media Regulation website at this point—allows GTA 5 to be sold in Saudi Arabia unmodified, and importantly also opens the door for other games that might otherwise struggle to be approved.

Previously, some games like The Witcher 3 were edited to meet the requirements of the country's censors, while others, such as Final Fantasy 16, have been banned outright because publishers refused to make the required changes.

Saudi Arabia is a notoriously conservative monarchy: Women were forbidden from driving until 2018, and the LGBTQ+ community remains brutally oppressed. In recent years, though, the country has made a high-profile embrace of videogames under the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund—of which bin Salman is the chairman—has invested $1 billion into Embracer and, through its Scopely subsidiary—which it acquired in 2023—purchased the games business of Pokemon GO maker Niantic earlier this year. The Mohammed bin Salman Foundation (Misk) acquired 96% of SNK in 2022, and in 2023 the PIF directly acquired 10% of Electronic Arts.

Esports has also become a major focus for bin Salman. In 2022 the PIF purchased esports event organizer ESL Gaming and tournament platform FACEIT; Saudi Arabia is also home to the Esports World Cup, and in 2027 will host the first ever Olympic Esports Games. (The Olympic Esports Games were originally slated for 2025 but were delayed earlier this year.)

But this dramatic uptick in videogame activity has also resulted in growing accusations of "esportswashing"—that Saudi Arabia is using the popularity of videogames to distract from its notoriously poor human rights record and the fact that bin Salman is widely believed to be responsible for ordering the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. In May, GeoGuessr withdrew from the 2025 Esports World Cup after a furious backlash from the community, which saw many of the game's most popular maps rendered unplayable by their makers in protest.

Every little bit helps, and I do expect that the newly-legal status of GTA 5 will spark a sales bump, but at this point it really doesn't need the extra push: Rockstar reported in May 2025 that GTA 5 has now surpassed 215 million copies sold, while the GTA series in total has racked up nearly 450 million sold.

Correction: The report originally indicated that Savvy Games Group had invested in SNK and Electronic Arts. SNK ownership is held by Misk, while the EA investment was made directly by the Public Investment Fund.

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