Last week, the Pan European Game Information (PEGI), the board responsible for giving all video games age ratings in most of Europe (save for Germany, which has its own ratings board) announced a major change to how it rates games. Games with "paid random items," i.e. loot boxes, will now start to receive automatic PEGI 16 ratings. It's a major change meant to make parents more aware of those kinds of in-game purchases, but the North American ratings board, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) won't be following suit.
An ESRB spokesperson told The Game Business that it will not adopt a similar policy change implemented by PEGI, as it believes that "it could be confusing" for parents.
"ESRB provides upfront notice to parents about interactive features by assigning interactive elements, including 'Users Interact,' 'In-Game Purchases,' and 'In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)' as part of its three-part rating system," the spokesperson's statement began.
"ESRB's age and content rating are based on the content of a game and the context in which it is presented to the player. ESRB's research indicates that parents want upfront notice about its features like online communications and the ability to spend real money on in-game purchases, but that it could be confusing if non-content related features influence rating category assignments. As such, there are currently no plans for ESRB to allow any factors outside of the content and context of a game to influence the age rating assignment."
Essentially, while PEGI's approach will give higher age ratings to games like EA Sports FC for including elements like its loot box equivalent Ultimate Team Player Packs that, even if they've not been proven to be gambling in every court worldwide, definitely draw similarities to gambling, the ESRB's main concern is the content of those packs. The content being sports cards for professional athletes. If that content were to change to, say, something of a more mature range, then the ESRB would likely change the age rating for ESRB from its usual 'E for Everyone' rating.
Which means when the next EA Sports FC game rolls around, in Europe, it'll likely carry the PEGI 16 rating, the equivalent of the ESRB's 'T for Teen' rating, while in the US and Canada, it'll remain 'E for Everyone,' the PEGI equivalent of which is PEGI 3.
Elsewhere in the report, which included an interview with PEGI general director Dirk Bosmans, the ratings board cleared up an element that was unclear by its previous announcement. While it was initially thought that PEGI wouldn't be retroactively looking at games already released, the company said it will indeed be looking at those titles. So live service gacha games like Genshin Impact are not at all off the hook.
"We did not include a lot of detail about legacy products, because that's something we want to figure out properly," Bosmans said. "It is actually a lot more complicated than you might think. When we said that only games submitted to us from June onwards will be classified, we meant only from June, not today or next week, which probably caused some confusion. We will be looking at some legacy products."
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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