Videogame Decency Act in Congress

GamePolitics reports on yet another attempt by lawmakers to make the world safe from the dangers of electronic entertainment. Entered by Representative Fred Upton, the bill spells out penalties for game companies that try to 'sneak' something past ESRB raters. Says Upton, "I guess I thought the FTC would have had some more teeth than they apparently have... I'm not at all happy... In essence there are no consequences. None... I would like to have thought that (Take-Two and Rockstar) would have been able to be fined for millions of dollars for the trash they put out across this country. I am going to be looking to write legislation giving the FTC the authority to impose civil penalties."

Comments

What happens now?

[RingDev]

So IF a publisher fudged their way past the ESRB, and got caught once the boxes were on the shelves, what happens?

(almost) Every distributor returns all of the merchandise at the publishers expense. Production facilities have to be retooled for a new release, and new production runs made. All those boxes have to be shipped out to the distributors again. Some of those companies may not be interested in selling the product any more though. Consumers may be less interested in the watered down version. Future releases from that publisher may have difficulty securing distribution.

So... Aren't they already being fined millions of dollars? What's the point of this bill, let capitalism drive the market.

-Rick