EA Sports FC and Pokémon Go age ratings bumped to 16 in PEGI loot box crackdown
The European body has begun raising age ratings to 16 for games with loot boxes
European games ratings body PEGI has started increasing the age ratings of games that feature loot boxes to 16, including EA Sports FC and Pokémon Go.
Policy manager Connor Hinde confirmed the news in a post on LinkedIn, clarifying that the updates to age ratings will begin rolling out this week and throughout the rest of October.
So far, multiple games have been spotted with bumped-up age ratings, notably the EA Sports FC games, Pokémon mobile titles including Go and Trading Card Game Pocket, Mario Kart Tour, and Hoyoverse’s Zenless Zone Zero.
“Since June, newly submitted games have been assessed against an expanded set of criteria within the PEGI rating framework, including new criteria relating to interactive risks,” Hinde said. “As the UK administrator of PEGI, the Games Rating Authority has now begun applying these updated criteria to selected existing digital products.”
He added: “Existing digital-only games that are currently rated PEGI 3, 7 or 12 and feature paid random items, such as loot boxes, will have their age rating updated to PEGI 16 – Paid random items.”
The move follows PEGI’s announcement earlier this year that all games with “paid random items” – generally described as loot boxes – would have a default rating of PEGI 16, meaning they can’t legally be sold to children 15 or under in the UK or any other European country that has adopted PEGI ratings into its legislation.
“In some cases, they can be a PEGI 18,” PEGI said at the time, though it didn’t specify which conditions trigger this.
The ratings board has also introduced other conditions, such as a new rule that will classify games with time-limited offers or quantity-limited offers as PEGI 12 minimum, while anything with NFTs or blockchain-related mechanisms will instantly be rated PEGI 18.
Features that reward players for returning to games (such as daily quests) will be rated at least PEGI 7, but if players are punished for not returning, these games will be PEGI 12. Finally, games with entirely unrestricted online communication features, with no blocking or reporting ability, for example, will automatically be rated PEGI 18.
According to PEGI, the changes have been made to bring its standards in line with those of USK, the German age rating authority, which made similar changes in 2023 after the German Youth Protection Act was updated.
PEGI council chair Beate Våje said: “With the updated set of age rating criteria, PEGI aims to make parents aware that certain features in games should be carefully assessed, and that parental tools can be a very helpful assistant when doing that.”
