Red Dead Redemption 2 Age Rating: What the Steam Page Shows
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Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t have a single “global” age rating: according to its Steam page, the game has been separately rated by 10 different classification boards, and nearly all of them place it in their oldest, adult category.
This isn’t our own judgment of the game, and it isn’t advice for parents on whether to “allow” or “forbid” it — what follows is only what the Red Dead Redemption 2 Steam page actually shows: which boards issued a rating, which symbols they used, and how one rating differs from another. The Steam page doesn’t explain why any specific board reached its decision, so this article doesn’t guess at reasons — only the result itself.
Why one game gets 10 different ratings
Many countries and regions run their own independent board for classifying video games by age, and each one applies its own scale and its own criteria. That’s why the same game can carry several official ratings at once — not because anyone made a mistake, but because these really are different organizations with different rules. Steam lists ratings from 10 such boards on the Red Dead Redemption 2 page.
All 10 ratings according to Steam
Here is the full list of boards and ratings the game’s Steam page showed at the time of checking:
| Board | Rating |
|---|---|
| ESRB | M |
| PEGI | 18 |
| USK | 18 |
| OFLC | MA15 |
| NZOFLC | R16 |
| DEJUS | 18 |
| FPB | 18 |
| KGRB | 18 |
| CRL | 18 |
| CSRR | R |
Three of these are widely recognized: ESRB rates games for North America (the US and Canada), PEGI is the pan-European system, and USK is Germany’s classification board. NZOFLC is New Zealand’s board — that’s clear from the abbreviation itself. For the remaining ratings (OFLC, DEJUS, FPB, KGRB, CRL, CSRR), the Steam page doesn’t spell out a country separately from the abbreviation, so this article doesn’t add a guess the page itself doesn’t confirm — the symbol above is everything officially known from the source.
Most boards agree on the same «18» symbol — the oldest adult category on their respective scales. The exceptions are ESRB with its own letter rating «M» (Mature), NZOFLC with «R16», OFLC with «MA15», and CSRR with «R»: each of these boards uses its own scale format rather than a plain age number.
What ESRB’s «M» rating is based on
ESRB is the only one of the 10 boards for which Steam separately shows the content descriptors behind the rating. For Red Dead Redemption 2, these are:
- Blood and Gore
- Intense Violence
- Nudity
- Sexual Content
- Strong Language
- Use of Drugs and Alcohol
This is ESRB’s official list as shown on the Steam page — not a summary or an editorial judgment. For the other 9 boards, Steam doesn’t show this level of descriptor detail on the game page, only the rating symbol itself.
Steam’s content descriptor and the page’s own age gate
Separately from the list of classification boards, the Red Dead Redemption 2 Steam page also carries 1 of its own content descriptor marks (Content Descriptors) — a separate storefront feature, and the store page itself shows what that specific descriptor means.
At the same time, the Red Dead Redemption 2 page doesn’t set its own age gate on entry — the kind of pop-up “confirm your age” prompt Steam sometimes requires for certain games.
If you’re also curious how the game looks on other official Steam metrics before buying, it’s worth checking Red Dead Redemption 2’s Steam player rating — a separate metric with no connection to the age rating. And if you haven’t settled on an edition or platform yet, there’s a dedicated piece on Red Dead Redemption 2 editions and platforms.
What is not officially stated
- The reasoning behind any specific board’s decision. The Steam page shows only each board’s final rating, not a record or justification for why that symbol was chosen.
- The country or region for OFLC, DEJUS, FPB, KGRB, CRL, and CSRR. The Steam page doesn’t spell this out separately from the abbreviation, so this article doesn’t add a guess.
- Content descriptors for 9 of the 10 boards. The detailed descriptor list is shown only for ESRB; for the rest, only the rating symbol is visible.
- The exact text of Steam’s own content descriptor. It’s known that there is 1 such mark; the specific wording is shown on the store page itself.
In short
According to Steam, Red Dead Redemption 2 carries 10 different age ratings from 10 independent classification boards — most agree on «18», while ESRB additionally shows its reasoning as 6 content descriptors; the Steam page itself doesn’t set its own age gate for this game.
Frequently asked questions
What is Red Dead Redemption 2's official age rating?
There isn't a single number — according to Steam, the game has been separately rated by 10 different classification boards, and most of them show «18». The exception is ESRB (North America), which uses the letter rating «M» instead of a number.
Why do different boards' ratings look different — 18, M, R16, MA15?
Because each classification board works from its own scale rather than one shared international standard. ESRB uses letter categories («M» for Mature), New Zealand's NZOFLC uses the «R16» format, OFLC uses «MA15», and most of the other boards simply state the age as «18».
What exactly is ESRB's «M» rating for Red Dead Redemption 2 based on?
Steam shows a separate descriptor list alongside the ESRB rating: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, and Use of Drugs and Alcohol. This is ESRB's official list as shown on the Steam page, not an editorial summary.
Does the Red Dead Redemption 2 Steam page require age verification to enter?
No. The page doesn't set its own age gate on entry — the separate pop-up 'confirm your age' prompt Steam sometimes adds for certain games.
What is Steam's Content Descriptors mark, and how is it different from the classification boards' ratings?
It's a separate Steam page feature, not directly tied to the list of 10 classification boards. Red Dead Redemption 2 carries 1 such mark, and the exact wording is shown on the store page itself.