Gaming videos with graphic violence face tougher restrictions on YouTube, which doesn’t bode well for anyone with plans to cover GTA 6.

One of the reasons why the launch of GTA 6 on May 26, 2026, is such a big deal is because it’ll be a welcome boon for YouTubers and streamers who specialise in gaming videos.

Between its longevity, playground-like open world, online multiplayer, and dedicated role-playing groups, GTA 5 has been a consistent source of YouTube revenue for years. Back when it was new, one kid was making £24,000 a year through GTA 5 videos alone.

However, there are concerns any GTA 6 video plans are at risk of being hampered thanks to an update to YouTube’s guidelines regarding any gaming videos that depict graphic violence, with said update coming into effect on November 17.

While previous GTA games haven’t been overtly gory (especially when compared to something like Mortal Kombat), there’s no way to know yet whether GTA 6 will be more explicit in how it depicts that violence. Either way, the series is famous for letting you commit violence against harmless civilians.

Any gameplay videos which YouTube judges to be too violent will be slapped with age restrictions (which limits their reach to only those with registered YouTube accounts, who are at least 18 years old) or forced to censor anything particularly nasty.

‘In addition to our existing guidelines around graphic gaming content, we will age restrict an additional small subset of video game content featuring realistic human characters that focuses on scenes of torture or scenes of mass violence against non-combatants,’ reads an update from Google.

This will be determined by the length of scenes, the prominence of any violent imagery, and if the characters involved are realistic-looking humans.

Who exactly will be determining any of this is not clear but it’s almost certainly going to be left to AI, which means it’s likely to be inconsistent and either very lenient or very overbearing.

Any existing videos that are deemed to violate the new guidelines stand to either be age restricted or outright removed, although Google insists this won’t result in any strikes against affected channels.

It’s possible GTA 6 videos can circumvent this as long as the violence isn’t gory, although ‘mass violence’ could easily apply to, say, scenes of you running over crowds of people with a car – which is a GTA staple.

Considering the game is all about a Bonnie and Clyde-esque criminal couple, there are bound to be shootouts against law enforcement and other criminals, which could also violate the guidelines.

GTA 5 also features prominent depictions of torture, although really only in its single-player campaign.

Survival horror games also stand to be impacted, such as the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem, since they typically involve violent deaths for their human protagonists.

Not to mention official trailers from publishers, depending on their contents, could be slapped with age restrictions, thus minimising their reach, which wouldn’t be great from a marketing standpoint.

YouTube is looking to crack down on gambling related content as well, saying: ‘We’re expanding our enforcement to now cover online gambling with additional items that have monetary value, including digital goods.

‘Content that depicts, promotes, or facilitates social casino sites will now be age restricted.’

That could also impact video games, especially as the question of whether loot boxes constituent gambling has arisen again recently with Counter-Strike on PC.

Protagonists Jason and Lucia are going to be committing so many crimes once GTA 6 is out (Rockstar)

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