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Games Classifications Under Fire

The UK government has published its action plan for changes to the videogame classification system.

Taking on board recommendations made by March's Byron Review, Whitehall has pledged that a four-month public consultation period will take place from July with games publishers. Proposals will be pushed through as early as next year.

Self regulating

The UK videogames industry, which last year sold £1.7 billion worth of gaming content, will undergo a drastic change in the way in which content is classified. Currently, the industry regulates itself under the Pan European Game Information age rating system (PEGI). The PEGI system provides a simple guideline for parents who are worried about the games their children play. Software is categorised by the genre of game and the age rating.

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) examines any games that would have an 18 certificate and contains "human sexual activity" or "gross violence". Each year the industry submits around 250 games for review by the BBFC.

Tanya Byron's government-commissioned report, Safer Children in a Digital World, recommended that the BBFC should rate all games that would attract a 12 certificate or above. In the report, Byron praised how the videogames industry has so far complied with its rating systems but noted that the PEGI system was difficult for some parents to understand.

Unworkable

However, the plans have been met with concern by some areas of the videogames industry. Several games publishers including EA, the world's largest games publisher, and Microsoft have suggested that the BBFC and the UK government have shown scant interest in the needs of the videogames industry.

EA, which publishes around one in every five games sold in the UK has called for the legal enforcement of the European-wide PEGI rating system as opposed to one proposed by Byron and the BBFC. The publisher argues that the BBFC proposal is unworkable due to the increasing number of games that offer downloadable content not included in the original purchase.

"What we need is a single system. There are some games that are already rated at 18 on the current system but would be at 15 on the new cinema model. What we do need is legal enforcement of the PEGI standard, because now if a child of 12 wants to buy a 16-plus game, the retailer has to sell it to them," said Keith Ramsdale, vice-president and general manager of EA UK.

In an argument that will resonate with many UK gamers who have watched their American and Japanese counterparts play games months before their release in Europe, EA has highlighted how release dates would be delayed in the UK by "weeks, not days".

Microsoft joined EA in criticising the proposed rating system. Neil Thompson, senior regional director for Microsoft's north European division is worried that the new system would drive up the price of games.

"We're in the business of providing great games to a broad audience of gamers, and we need to be able to fulfill that role by getting products to consumers quickly and at a good price. We're concerned with any measures that would mean this process is made more unwieldy or incurs additional costs which have to be shared with the consumer," explained Thompson.

Street fight?

Both company statements were met with stern criticism from the BBFC. According to the regulatory body, on average it classifies games in just eight calendar games, faster than similar organisations around the world.

"We are disappointed and concerned about attempts by one or two video game publishers to pre-empt, through recent press statements, the forthcoming public consultation on video games classification. Their statements are misleading in several respects," said David Cooke, head of the BBFC, in a statement.

"It is absurd to imply that the BBFC could not cope, or would need 'a building the size of Milton Keynes.' The BBFC is a larger and better-resourced organisation than PEGI and is well used to gearing up and to providing fast-track services where appropriate," he added.