European video game ratings organization Pan-European Game Information, better known as PEGI, is revising its age ratings system to tie to specific features in games, like loot boxes and daily quests. PEGI announced the changes on Thursday, noting that the new classifications will go into effect in June.
“Newly submitted games will be classified with a broader set of criteria that will focus on content and functionality, such as purchases of in-game content, paid random items, communication features, and features that incentivize players to continue playing,” it said in the announcement. PEGI added that the change will “help bolster online safety and meet the concerns and questions of today’s parents.”
Here are the new categories, from PEGI’s announcement:
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Purchases of in-game content: games with time-limited or quantity-limited offers will be classified with a PEGI 12, games with NFTs or blockchain-related mechanisms will be PEGI 18.
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Paid random items: the default rating will be PEGI 16 if the game contains paid random items (and in some cases they can be PEGI 18).
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Play-by-appointment: mechanisms that reward returning to the game (e.g. daily quests) will get a PEGI 7. If these mechanisms punish players for not returning (e.g. by losing content or reducing progress) they will become PEGI 12.
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Safe online gameplay: if games contain entirely unrestricted communication features (e.g. no blocking or reporting), they will be PEGI 18.
To put it simply, games that include loot boxes will now be rated at PEGI 16, and, in some cases, PEGI 18. This means that games in the EA Sports FC franchise, which have a PEGI 3 rating, could see a dramatic age upgrade for future versions, due to the controversial loot boxes in those games. EA no longer sells loot boxes in EA FC 26 in South Korea due to laws that would require the company to disclose detailed probability data.
PEGI did not expand on what would bump up the rating to PEGI 18. Game Developer has reached out for clarification. Anything that sells items on a limited basis—time or quantity—will be rated at PEGI 12. For example, something using a rotating store like Fortnite‘s would likely be rated at PEGI 12. The play-by-appointment rating targets games that incentivize a player coming back daily to unlock things or earn rewards, ranking those at PEGI 7. Anything that punishes players for not coming back would be PEGI 12. The last category rates games with “unrestricted communication” as PEGI 18.
“Games can be submitted to PEGI for examination in advance of their announcement and their release, therefore PEGI expects that the first games classified under these new criteria will be announced later in summer of this year,” PEGI said. Games are often submitted to PEGI before they’re announced, so the games that are announced this summer are most likely to have considered the new PEGI ratings classifications.
Loot boxes, in particular, are a big deal in the industry. Regulations have targeted them for years, and, most recently, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Steam maker Valve Corporation over loot boxes in Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2. “The lawsuit alleges that Valve has made billions of dollars luring its users, many of whom are teenagers or younger, to engage in gambling in the hopes of winning expensive virtual items that they can cash in on,” the Attorney General’s office wrote in a news release. Valve responded with a news release of its own, saying that loot boxes like theirs are common in and and elsewhere, comparing them to Pokémon cards and Labubu.
Activision Blizzard was fined a meager €5,000 by PEGI in 2023 for not disclosing loot boxes in Diablo Immortal.