Two new economic criteria…
With a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 18, the PEGI classification offers an overview of the tone of a game. Insults, fear, sex, violence, drugs, each theme has its own pictogram to inform the public. And from June, the European body will include four criteria focusing more on economic models and even the community aspect.
These changes will undoubtedly change the color of a lot of productions presented until now to all audiences, or almost. This information comes to us from Eurogamer and the journalist Robert Purchese, after an interview with Dirk Bosmans, CEO of PEGI.
THE first criterion simply involves in-game spending. This concerns paid battle passes, or free-to-play banners, and any other store involving the purchase of temporarily available objects bringing pressure to play and return to the game regularly. The consequence is a PEGI 12 for these games, and a PEGI 18 in the event of the presence of NFTs.
Bosmans mentions the possibility of going down to PEGI 7 in the event that the game includes the possibility of deactivating in-app purchases by default. He also emphasizes that other details related to this criterion are still under discussion, and that this is an experimental phase for the organization.
Second criterion, the famous lootboxes. We immediately think of the Ultimate Team cards fromEA Sports FCto the gacha mechanics of free-to-play, but also to the key system allowing you to unlock random objects. For this scenario, the PEGI rises to 16, and even to 18 for social casinos. Here too, it would be possible to consider a PEGI 12 if a default deactivation system for these lootboxes were to be integrated.
…and two related to addiction and the community aspect
As for the third criterion, PEGI attacks mechanics promoting addiction by forcing the player to return. Typically, we talk about daily challenges, or a chain of connections to maintain, etc. Dirk Bosmans is particularly nuanced here by saying that it is more of an informative criterion which will have little or no influence on the PEGI itself:
Some people have pointed out that these mechanics make the game engaging and fun, which enriches the gaming experience like a cliffhanger from a Netflix series. So we especially want to inform parents about this, because there is no reason to give Animal Crossing a high rating. So we will stay with a PEGI 7 with a descriptor which will explain this. The exact terms of this descriptor remain to be defined.
However, a PEGI 12 will be given to games which have a free battle pass as well as to those penalizing the player’s prolonged absence.
Finally, the last criterion concerns online toxicity. You don’t have to hang around certain games for long to have already experienced at least once a bath of insults via voice chat, text chat and other demonstrations of toxic behavior. Well, any game that does not include a system aimed at restricting or moderating this type of behavior will be assigned a PEGI 18, to the point of even being considered illegal, particularly in the United Kingdom. Bosmans puts this forward as a drawn limit, and imagines that few titles will risk going against it.
Changes effective from June
According to Dirk Bosmans, all these developments will come into force from June, hoping for the first games marketed under this new classification around Gamescom in August. The director insists on the fact that for PEGI it is “the biggest change in its history”. And for good reason, a EA Sports FC which would go from PEGI 3 to PEGI 16, for example, that will be funny.
Bosmans adds that the concerns targeted by the new criteria have long been considered by the organization, but that there was a need to do more. He concludes by expecting to receive messages from companies dissatisfied with these new provisions, while fully accepting them, judging that they are essential to advance the regulation around video games.