MIGS: Publishers “Cheat” Age Ratings

UPDATE: Added statement from ESRB spokesman Eliot Mizrachi on its ratings process.

Some publishers deceive the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to get lower age ratings on their games, claims A2M CEO.

As part of a panel at the Montreal International Game Summit, the Quebec development scene’s key players discussed the importance of social responsibility across the entire industry, from publishers and developers, through retailers, and ultimately for the consumers.

Wet developer A2M CEO Rémi Racine claimed that some publishers are willing to go as far to deceive north America’s ESRB to receive a lower rating and therefore a larger potential audience.

“As a developer who has worked with a lot of different publishers, we’re aware of many that have tried to cheat the rating. They say to the ERSB that it’s a Teen rating [13+] rather than an Mature [17+] to try and sell more; you can do this just by sending them a video that doesn’t show the most violent stuff and then you’ll get the rating that you want rather than the rating you should get,” Racine claimed.

“We have to make sure that everyone behaves and that the ERSB is duly diligent. Maybe getting your game out at a certain rating will help that game, but it’s really not going to help the industry as a whole.”

In a statement by spokesman Eliot Mizrachi after the panel session, the ESRB clarified its position: “ESRB takes full disclosure of content during the rating process extremely seriously, and companies that submit their games to ESRB know this very well. We regularly check games post-release to verify that submissions were complete, and it’s very likely that if a game contains undisclosed content that would have affected the rating assigned, we’ll find out about it. In such cases ESRB can actually impose fines up to $1 million as well as require corrective actions like re-labeling or even recalling product, both of which can obviously be very costly. There’s no incentive whatsoever for publishers to withhold content from ESRB in an effort to receive a lower rating, and those that would do so risk significant penalties.”

Racine continued by discussing one of the company’s (unannounced) new IP, to be launched in 2010. “If you look at the description we’ve submitted to the ERSB, it sounds like an E10 based on their rating system. But we know the game is as violent as all hell, yet it could get a low rating just because it doesn’t have blood. As a result, we’re going to make it really clear to them that we don’t want it to get less than a Teen, because I really don’t think it should be played by anyone under thirteen.”

Fellow panellist Eidos Montreal general manager Stepháne D’Astous spoke from the perspective of a parent of three children, admitting that his two teenage boys do play Mature rated games, but that he “likes to be there when they do”. “I think it is important as a parent to explain what they’re seeing; it’s like watching a movie as a family, you’re there to help them get it.” However, he felt that responsibility for protecting consumers from inappropriate content lay “from top to bottom; from the publishers to the parent”.

Ubisoft’s Clint Hocking, creative director on Far Cry 2, took a more creator-positive approach, arguing that content should not only be considered in terms of its potential damage to an inappropriate audience, but it’s value to the right audience. “We must empower and enable artists to say something meaningful with what they create … on a corporate level the vast majority of our efforts should be allowing artists to say the things that are important for them to say, without fear.”

On this, the panel seemed absolute in their agreement, with Racine feeling that the way to empower artists was to increase the audience’s education.

“Right now I don’t think the industry is doing enough to educate the audience. The ERSB is supposed to do it, but it feels like we just kind of expect these kind of industry or government bodies to do the job for us. As much as I don’t think it’s the place of EA or Activision to go off and try and inform parents on their own, a more active role needs to be taken by all participants to ensure our artists are free to express themselves and that content can be enjoyed responsibly.”