pegi rating briefly listed decapitation and drug use for gta 6, then got yanked

So PC Gamer caught a PEGI rating for GTA 6 that went up and got deleted real quick. The listing mentioned "detailed decapitation" and "frequent and prominent" drug use. That alone would be wild, but then there's a line about Jason and Lucia being able to snort cocaine "directly from their hand at any time."
I know Rockstar has always pushed the envelope with drugs in these games, but having it be a mechanic you can trigger whenever feels like a step up from the usual cutscene stuff. GTA 5 had Trevor huffing gas and smoking meth, but it was mostly scripted or tied to specific moments. This sounds like it could be a free action, like pulling out a phone or something.
The decapitation part is interesting too. GTA has had gore before, but detailed decapitation is new territory for the series. I remember Red Dead 2 had some brutal dismemberment with shotguns and explosives, so Rockstar clearly isn't shy about it. If they're bringing that level of gore to Vice City, the combat is going to feel way more visceral.
PEGI ratings get updated all the time before launch, so this could change. But the fact that it was up long enough for someone to screenshot it makes me think the final rating will be pretty close to this. The game is already rated M for Mature in the US, and the PS Store listing mentioned sex scenes a while back, so it's not like we didn't know this was coming.
I'm mostly curious how the cocaine mechanic works. Is it a buff system like the special abilities in GTA 5, or just a visual thing you can do for fun? Either way, it's going to make the game feel a lot more grounded in that Miami drug scene vibe. November can't get here fast enough.
Source: PC Gamer · Curated content.
Got a take on this?
Join the discussion. It takes about thirty seconds, and you can reply to any thread on the forum.