After being revealed last week that Ubisoft's open-world hacking title Watch Dogs would be receiving a re-classified R18+ rating, the developer and the Australian Classification Board have today issued statements explaining why the game was reclassified.

The Australian Classification Board tells CVG (GamePolitics) that the new R18+ rating was due to references to sexual violence. The following quote does contain spoilers, though for the non-spoiler folks the scene in question contained "female nudity and implied violence."

"Included in the game's storyline are instances of human trafficking which include female non-playing characters being sold at a human auction," the report says. It goes on to detail the scene, which features female nudity and implied violence.

"While the game does not contain actual sexual violence or implied sexual violence that is visually depicted, interactive, not justifed by context or related to incentives or rewards, the Board is of the opinion, having regard to the above, that the game contains post-action visuals related to sexual violence."

Ubisoft's response to the game's new rating was due to new content being introduced since its delay, and as per Australian Classification Board outlines the game had to be resubmitted. "The decision to amend the rating of the game from MA15+ to R18+ was made by the ACB," states Ubisoft.

Watch Dogs was originally classified MA15+ in September of 2013, though last week saw the reassessment with new R18+ rating and aggressive content warnings.

Watch Dogs is set for release on May 27th for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. A Wii U version is to follow at a later date.