List of AO-rated video games
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Interest in “List of AO-rated video games” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-07-18.
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Key Takeaways
- The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the content rating board for games released in North America, has issued an " Adults Only " ( AO ) rating for 23 released video games.
- The majority of AO-rated games are adult video games, typically those with pornographic or strong sexual content.
- The only game to receive the rating for reasons other than pornographic content or extreme violence is Peak Entertainment Casinos (2003), which allows players to gamble using real money.
- Fahrenheit edited out an explicit sex scene to meet the M rating.
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Source summary
WikipediaThe Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the content rating board for games released in North America, has issued an "Adults Only" (AO) rating for 23 released video games. AO is the highest rating in the ESRB system, and indicates that the organization believes that the game's content is suitable only for players aged 18 years and over.
The majority of AO-rated games are adult video games, typically those with pornographic or strong sexual content. Three games have been given the rating solely due to extreme levels of violence: the canceled Thrill Kill (1998), the initial cut of Manhunt 2 (2007), and Hatred (2015). The only game to receive the rating for reasons other than pornographic content or extreme violence is Peak Entertainment Casinos (2003), which allows players to gamble using real money.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) was temporarily re-rated from M ("Mature") to AO after a sexually-explicit minigame was found hidden in the game, but the M rating was reinstated after Rockstar Games patched out the content. Fahrenheit edited out an explicit sex scene to meet the M rating. The ESRB lists a "director's cut" of the game on PC as having an AO rating, but it is unknown if this was ever publicly released.
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