PEGI explains its "biggest update yet", from interaction risks to why Steam and Apple are missing

As it was announced last month and starting in June, PEGI is no longer looking only at what a game shows, but also at how it asks players to spend, return, communicate, and interact. The introduction of the new criteria in the current context, where live service games occupy most of children's playing time, has been widely demanded for a long time.

With the announcement still fresh, and wanting to learn more about how the Pan-European Game Information rating system works in general, Gamereactor had an insightful conversation with the body's head of operations, Jennifer Wacrenier, at the MAD Games Show in Madrid.

"This is the biggest update PEGI has ever done", explains Wacrenier in the video interview, "because we are extending the scope, not only to the content of the game. That was really the focus at the start: violence, bad language, drugs, sex, and all that. Now it's really extending to elements that are more like features, mechanisms in the game, such as in-game purchases and paid random items, pressure to play, to come back to the game at certain specific times, and also the online interactions in the chats and so on."

To illustrate how the so-called "interaction risks" will now trigger different age ratings, Wacrenier gives us several examples.

"Certain types of in-game purchase, like, for example, when there are time-limited quantity offers, such as battle passes and so on, that's going to trigger a [PEGI] 12," she anticipates. "Paid random items are going to trigger a [PEGI] 16: loot box, gacha system, all that."

As for pressure to play, she adds that incentives "to come back on a daily quest" or "at seasonal moments" would trigger a PEGI 7, while "if the user would lose content because they don't come back to the game, that would be a PEGI 12." Finally, when it comes to online communication, Wacrenier said that if a game has no moderation or tools to "block or mute another player", "that would be a PEGI 18."

Wacrenier then recounts the 18-month process that took PEGI "to develop those new criteria and to have a consensus and an agreement for everyone within those committees, but also to develop really objective criteria to determine which one would get which rating", while describing the profiles behind it all, including European experts, academics, specialists in minor protection, the PEGI council, ministries, and media authorities.

But how are game publishers reacting to the new regulations, seeing how some of their releases may now grow several years older in PEGI, thus potentially impacting sales?

"I think that the news was very well received, quite positively", Wacrenier celebrates. "Obviously, not all publishers and companies are happy with it. But I think it was needed. It was expected. And, you know, it was a very, very big request coming from parents, consumers, governments and everyone."

In this regard, she also noted that "everybody will have to adapt and adjust and either take the rating or take some incentive or initiatives to change maybe the design. If they don't want that rating, that's up to them as well."

Elsewhere in the interview we discuss what is needed for parents to be more aware of PEGI and how it helps them control what their children have access to or spend money on. Besides, Wacrenier underlines that PEGI doesn't ban or censor, and how they work with sanctions, fines, a code of conduct, and post-release complaints whenever an affiliated partner doesn't comply.

But PEGI is not present everywhere, and she also explained the differences between PEGI countries or even comparisons with (and inspiration from) systems such as Germany's USK, or how PEGI in the UK is enforced at retail.

Why PEGI still isn't on Steam or Apple

Finally, on the topic of presence, and as games transcended the physical shelves long ago, we also wanted to learn more about the digital platforms. Whereas PEGI is prominently present on Nintendo's eShop or on the Epic Games Store, Steam and Apple (for MacOS and iOS) remain the two major gaps in PEGI's digital reach.

"Those are the two platforms where we are not present," Wacrenier admits. "Apple has its own rating system in-house since the beginning. So we try to discuss with them, but so far, they are keeping their own system. And then Steam doesn't have any system or mandatory system in place. They do allow publishers to display the PEGI rating if they have one, but that's it. And many don't."

Referring to Steam in particular, she added: "That's a bit unfortunate because they are a big player in the industry. So we would be very happy to discuss with them and see how we could integrate PEGI more."

And we can agree many parents and experts would be happy too. You can play the full interview, completely subtitled in your local language, for all things PEGI.