ESA Wants To Better Inform Parents About Age Ratings

Tired of the warnings about the appropriateness of games for specific age ranges from the ESRB being ignored, the Entertainment Software Association intends to let out some public service announcements hoping to inform parents about the content of the games that their children are consuming.

In a press release President and CEO of the ESA Michael D. Gallagher said:

“No one knows better than parents when it comes to making decisions about which games their children should and should not play… The video game industry makes games for people of all ages, but that doesn’t mean all games are appropriate for everyone. I commend the industry for raising awareness of the tools available to parents that can help them make informed decisions about the games their children play.”

To this end, the press release states that the video game industry will now be attempting to get this message regarding age ratings across through:

• Video game consoles themselves, presumably in the place of ads on the Xbox dashboard
• Creating websites set up for the purpose of informing adults
• Producing press releases specifically for fan sites to use and promote
• Getting in touch with local radio and tv stations to spread the word
• Interacting with governement at federal and state levels so that they can be more informed and pass that along too

This can only be a step forward for the industry. It informs parents that some games just aren’t for their kids and removes the blame from publishers who are just trying to make a decent product for a relevant audience.