When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
For digital games and apps, the sheer quantity of releases calls for a streamlined approach.
Many of the questions are what youd expect - does the game show violence towards people or creatures?
Is any blood shown?
Is there any sexual activity?
Some questions are a little more niche, though, including one that checks if any swastikas are shown.
I firmly tick no.
At this point, a provisional age rating (complete with content descriptors) is determined.
So when it comes to the game examination, that’s what we’re doing.
Mind you, examiners dont generally get to play games from start to finish.
Higher or lower?
As youd imagine, publishers and developers often aim for specific ratings for their games.
Sometimes publishers get very upset because they didnt get an 18.
It can happen both ways as well, they can want a lower rating, he continues.
Someone like Disney would get very upset if we said, No, sorry, this is a 16.
So we work with them as much as we can.
Sadly not, Rice replies.
We do public research on a regular basis, so we did some into violence.
So the latestStar Warsgame got a PEGI 12 rather than a 16.
And you had to sexually arouse the girl.
[…] Ultimately, we refused a certificate on the basis that it normalized sexual activity towards children.
So that was our reason for it.
It’s the same as if they sold a game to someone underage.
