Update News
ESRB Extends Rating Service to Digitally Delivered Games
NEW YORK, October 24, in the year of our Lord 2012 –
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the non-profit
self-regulatory body for the video game industry, today
announced a streamlined, no-cost service for assigning ratings
to all digitally delivered games. ESRB’s new “Digital Rating
Service” utilizes a brief but detailed online questionnaire to
assess not only a product’s content and age-appropriateness, but
also interactive elements, including the sharing of personal
information or physical location and exposure to unfiltered
user-generated content. This newly streamlined service will
first be put into use for downloadable games available from a
number of computer and video game platforms including Xbox LIVE
Arcade, PlayStation® Network, PlayStation® Vita, PlayStation™
Certified devices, Nintendo® eShop, Wii Shop Channel™ and
Windows 8, with other digital content aggregators, online game
networks, streaming and download services to follow.
“Consumers have grown accustomed to using ESRB ratings when
making decisions about the appropriateness of the games their
families play. With the explosion of devices from which
consumers can access games today, our goal is to ensure that
those same tools are available everywhere games can be found,”
said ESRB president Patricia Vance. “More recently, parents’
concerns have begun to extend beyond just content to include the
sharing of their kids’ personal information or location and
interactions with other players. ESRB’s Digital Rating Service
now offers all digital platforms, storefronts and networks the
opportunity to empower their customers with consistent,
credible, familiar and useful upfront guidance no matter where
their family chooses to play games.”
The streamlined rating process makes obtaining an ESRB rating
fast and easy by assigning a rating immediately. By simplifying
the process and eliminating the cost to developers, the ESRB
expects to broaden adoption of its ratings among game providers
of all types. The resulting ubiquity of ESRB ratings will ease a
parent's job by presenting a single ratings standard across the
many platforms on which their children access games. Increased
adoption of ESRB ratings also means that developers will no
longer be subject to differing and oftentimes conflicting rating
systems and standards for their digitally delivered games.
ESRB’s Digital Rating Service complements the CTIA Mobile
Application Rating System with ESRB, a program launched last
year through which ESRB assigns ratings to mobile apps using a
similar process.
“The ESRB’s Digital Rating Service is the most sensible way to
implement ratings across the many platforms on which we now
publish games,” said John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts.
“A consistent standard is in the best interest of publishers and
consumers alike, empowering parents with the information they
need to make informed choices for their families.”
“Today our customers expect to be able to play their favorite
games across a wide range of different devices, in home and on
the go,” added Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer
Entertainment America (SCEA). “We believe our developers will
greatly appreciate how easy this new streamlined system is to
use and our customers are certain to benefit from having broader
access to ESRB ratings across all of their game devices.”
Ratings Go Beyond Content
Consumer research shows that at least two thirds of parents
consider it essential that a rating system provide disclosure
about the collection and/or sharing of personal information with
third parties, the sharing of a user’s location, and the ability
to track a user’s location, and consider it just as important as
being informed about content and age-appropriateness.* As a
result, ESRB’s Digital Rating Service not only assigns the
familiar ESRB Rating Category and Content Descriptors that
consumers already know and trust, but also generates
standardized notices, called “Interactive Elements,” which
include:
“Shares Info” indicates that user-provided personal information
(e.g., e-mail address, phone number, credit card info, etc.) is
shared with third parties;
“Shares Location” indicates the ability to display the user’s
location to other users; and
“Users Interact” indicates possible exposure to
unfiltered/uncensored user-generated content, including
user-to-user communications and media sharing via social media
and networks.
In addition to providing critical guidance to consumers in
advance of playing a game, all three parts of a game’s rating
information (Rating Category, Content Descriptors and
Interactive Elements) can also be mapped to parental controls to
restrict access by these criteria. While adopters of ESRB
ratings may choose to not display all three parts, complete
rating information is always available by searching the ESRB
website at ESRB.org.
“ESRB’s rating system has always been an effective means for
parents to gauge content, and its latest evolution addresses the
emerging concerns of parents whose children increasingly access
and play games in a digital marketplace,” concluded Stephen
Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI).
“Information is a critical weapon in the online safety arsenal,
and giving parents tools like the ESRB’s new Interactive
Elements notices empowers them to take appropriate action to
protect their children in an online environment.”