Game Ratings War Brewing in the UK

It’s a battle between two juggernauts: Electronic Arts and the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). This time the fight is over video game ratings in the UK. So far it’s been a back and forth between the two sides. EA claims the new system is unworkable and confusing, while the BBFC has fired back saying EA’s statements are misleading.

The new system is driven by a six-month long government commissioned study, “Safer Children in a Digital World,” by popular TV child psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron. Her proposal calls for integrating the standing mandatory BBFC ratings for games rated 18+ with the voluntary Pan European Games Information (PEGI) ratings. The suggested ratings process will use a combination of the cinema-rating style with PEGI’s system (3+, 7+, 12+, etc.) to create a more consistent level of evaluation throughout the UK. At the same time, it calls for dropping the rating age for mandatory evaluation, from games rated 18+ down to 12+. Below is an interview with Dr. Byron about her study.
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