Europe’s game age rating system PEGI is rolling out its latest update to reclassify existing games under new criteria.

As part of this update, the Games Rating Authority, UK administrator of PEGI, has started increasing the age rating on various established titles featuring paid random items like loot boxes. The update means such games are now clearly classified: PEGI 16 - paid random items.

The update has impacted digital-only games that were previously rated PEGI 3, 7 or 12. It applies to online games that received their rating via the PEGI Classic procedure and International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) system.

The update began rolling out last week with plans to increase relevant games’ age ratings throughout the remainder of October.

Card collector Pokémon TCG Pocket now has a PEGI 16 rating on the Play Store in the UK, for example, as does DeNA’s 2019 title Pokémon Masters EX. Notably, this older Pokémon game doesn’t feature random items from loot boxes but rather includes new characters in a gacha.

Similarly, Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes has risen from PEGI 12 to PEGI 16, again not offering item-based loot boxes but monetising through a character-based gacha.

The changes follow an announcement this March that PEGI would initially assess newly released games by additional criteria, promising "substantive change" that would support online safety. The organisation began to include evaluation of paid random items, time-limited purchases and quantity-limited purchase offers in June, focused on new releases.

Source link