PEGI, which stands for Pan European Game Information, has been named by the UK government as the sole game ratings board for the country. This means that the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) will no longer rate video games and will instead stick to rating films and DVD’s.

The BBFC previously claimed that the UK would be better served by a local ratings board rather than a European one. The problem with this was that games released on the continent had one sole PEGI rating, while games released in the UK could either be rated by the BBFC or PEGI. For the sake of having clear uniform ratings across Europe the government chose PEGI, which should make things less confusing for customers.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), who largely represents the video game industry in the UK, were pleased at the decision, issuing a statement from its Director General Mike Rawlinson:

“The Government has made absolutely the right decision for child safety. By choosing PEGI as the single classification system in the UK, British children will now get the best possible protection when playing videogames either on a console or on the internet. Parents can be assured that they will have access to clear, uniform ratings on games and an accurate understanding of game content.”

There’s no doubt that the BBFC’s age rating icons are far more recognised amongst the British public, largely because every film and DVD release carries the marks, but having one sole rating should make things more clear for parents. It’s not like the PEGI ratings are hard to understand, and if parent’s check the box like they should be doing they should already be familiar with the age ratings; whether they be PEGI or BBFC.

Whoever does the ratings on the package doesn’t really matter, because if parents don’t check or ignore the age rating to begin with then a violent game is then in their child’s hands. I feel we need a big advertisement campaign to advertise this fact, because some parents just don’t realise the content their children are being exposed to through video games.

(Image source: 1UP)