Governing; Regulatory and Industry Related Bodies - ESRB

How Has the ESRB influenced Games Development?

The ESRB are the videogame age regulators for the United States. They will decide on the appropriate age ratings for any upcoming videogames to help with parental consumerism in the US. They are similar to PEGI with how they rate the games with a few differences, the most noticeable difference is that PEGI rates their game with a number whereas the ESRB rates the game based on the ideal audience for it (e.g. Teen, Mature, etc.). Developers will have to allow the ESRB run a review of their games before allowing it to be published within the United States as avoiding this will not allow it to be released due to the need of consumer advice on the game.

As similar to PEGI, the ESRB must play the games in order to determine the age rating for consumer advise and to allow the game to be released in the US. They should be honest with the game’s age rating. (Kevin, 2019) states as a matter of fact that the ESRB ‘never plays the game they rate’. The article gives example situations where the ESRB has allowed games that have sparked controversy (such as Hatred and Postal 2) to be released to the public despite of these games being known to gain negative media attention. There has been situations where they have adjusted age ratings of games without being aware of the context of it such as the ‘hot coffee’ topic controversy on the game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, the age rating of this game was adjusted despite of the ESRB not knowing the controversial topic is not accessible to anyone on the game (Kevin, 2019). This incident should convince videogame developers to ensure to give as much information about the game as they can to the ESRB, making sure to give it a proper age rating as well as making sure to monitor what rating is being given to their game and ensure the reason behind it is accurate and not misleading. Not doing so could affect a game from being published in the US or spread false information about the game if the ESRB are not following their duty of making sure to be honest with their age rating and review.