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ESRB Now Enforcing Game Trailer Ratings

Posted by Zonk on from the would-you-please-stop-thinking-about-the-children dept.

Gamasutra has the news that the ESRB is beginning to enforce rating-related audience restrictions on game trailers. D3 Publisher's trailer for Dark Sector was judged AO by the ESRB, and demanded in correspondence to the company that it be removed from the internet. Take-Two, meanwhile, has been handed a letter saying their trailer for The Darkness needs to be 'age-gated' if it is to be seen online. Update: 06/26 14:20 GMT by Z : The Gamasutra post has been updated to clarify the situation: "ESRB president Patricia Vance has responded to Gamasutra with a prepared statement that claims today's notices are routine ESRB Advertising Review Council procedure followed since 2005. According to Vance, the appearance of both publisher emails today are simply reminders that mature rated trailers must be age-gated, and that if a trailer's content is found to be in violation of the ESRB's trailer requirements, it must be removed or replaced with an edited version."

5 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Suppose it's not a surprise, but... by xero314 · · Score: 4, Informative

    If a game is rated T, could a trailer by rated M? Yes, if the trailer contained content which is not in the actual game. This happens in game trailers. For instance it could be possible to make a Wii sports game trailer which showed people playing the game, while naked. This would change the rating of the trailer. Game trailers need not be made up of just snippets from the game itself. Many game trailers have had content only available in pre production demos (as happens in movies as well).
  2. Re:Isn't the ESRB Voluntary? by vix86 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Its my understanding that games can't be published unless they have an ESRB rating. This isn't a law but its a general rule that many of the console makers follow. The ESRB can easily tell the company that they need to rate/remove the video or they won't have their games rated, effectively locking them out of having their games published. So its a form of coercion I believe.

  3. Re:Out of the ESRB's hands by aichpvee · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's where it'll ask you your age before letting you see something. There's some gaming site that has this on their flash videos. I just put in January 1 (default date) and then whichever year I happen to click on first, usually somewhere in the 60s or 70s. It's stupid, because there's NO verification (I don't think there should be anyway, don't let your kids on the Internet if you don't want them to see stuff) and it's just annoying as fuck.

    Never heard the term "age-gating" before though, but it makes sense.

    --
    The Farewell Tour II
  4. Re:Isn't the ESRB Voluntary? by sanosuke001 · · Score: 2, Informative

    ya, pretty sure the ESRB rating system is voluntary and no company has to get their game rated. Though not sure if Sony/MS/Nintendo require it to make a game for their system. If not, then the way things are going, companies are going to start putting their own ratings on their games, or no rating at all. The ESRB is going way too far, lately. That trailer posted in the first comment was lame. No wonder why there's been talk about replacing the ESRB...

    --
    -SaNo
  5. Re: This trailer? by Walpurgiss · · Score: 3, Informative

    The trailer they are trying to get canned is http://www.gametrailers.com/player/17392.html
    Its named a gameplay montage rather than a trailer. It shows several methods of killing, from neck breaks, decaps, shooting, and cutting with a weird 3 bladed weapon that apparently can also catch fire and build up a lot of static.

    I can see their objection to it being used as a trailer, but as far as being game content isn't all that much more graphic than a lot of other games.