Games with an 'M' rating are intended for players age 17 or older, while a game rated 'AO' is meant to restricted to those age 18 or older. The company expects to ship the revised version in its fourth quarter (August through October), and meantime will provide 'AO' stickers for retailers who wish to sell the current version of the game. 'Considering the existence of the undisclosed and highly pertinent content on the final discs, compounded by the broad distribution of the third party modification, the credibility and utility of the initial ESRB rating has been seriously undermined.' Rockstar is currently working on a version of San Andreas which will not allow for 'hot coffee' modification and which will retain the ESRB's original 'M' rating. Regardless, the organization decided to re-rate the game. The ESRB did find, however, that Rockstar never meant for the 'hot coffee' material to be accessible by end-users.

'After a thorough investigation, we have concluded that sexually explicit material exists in a fully rendered, unmodified form on the final discs of all three platform versions of the game (i.e., PC CD-ROM, Xbox and PS2),' said ESRB president Patricia Vance in a statement. Interestingly, the ESRB's conclusions contradict Take-Two's original assertion that the mod significantly altered game code, as opposed to simply unlocking content which was otherwise hidden. The so-called 'hot coffee' mini-game quickly aroused controversy among politicians and community groups, with most maintaining the game should have received an 'AO' rating instead of its original 'M,' or Mature, classification.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' new rating is the conclusion of an investigation by the ESRB of a sexually explicit mini-game made available by a widely-available third-party modification.

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