what does this symbol mean?

Video game ratings

The ESRB ratings on games in North America and the PEGI ages in Europe, and what each one means.

ESRB (North America) 6 symbols

PEGI (Europe) 1 symbol

About video game ratings

Video game ratings are the age marks on game boxes and in online stores. North America uses the ratings of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB): E, E10+, T, M and AO, with RP in advertising for a boxed game not yet rated. Most of Europe uses PEGI’s ages 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18. Both systems print content descriptors beside the age to say what may have triggered the rating. Each rating has its own page.

Who rates a game

The ESRB is the non-profit, self-regulatory body of the video game industry, founded in 1994 by the Interactive Digital Software Association, now the Entertainment Software Association. A boxed game’s rating is the consensus of at least three trained raters; games sold only online are rated through IARC, a streamlined process for digital games and apps. The system is voluntary, but all console makers and some US retailers and online stores require an ESRB rating. PEGI was founded by Video Games Europe in 2003 and is used in more than 35 countries.

How game ratings began in the US

The ESRB’s own oral history traces them to 1993. Acclaim released Mortal Kombat for Sega and Nintendo consoles on 13 September 1993. On 17 November Senator Joseph Lieberman wrote to his colleagues about violent games, and on 9 December Sega and Nintendo testified before two Senate subcommittees. Sega already rated its own games in three categories, GA, MA-13 and MA-17. The industry decided against having the MPAA, which rates films, rate games too, and built its own system: the ESRB announced five rating categories and 17 content descriptors in 1994 and began assigning ratings on 16 September that year. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in 2011 that the industry adopted the system in response to the threat of federal regulation.

Ratings and the law

In the US the ratings are voluntary. California passed a law in 2005 banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors; in 2011 the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association that it did not comport with the First Amendment, because video games qualify for First Amendment protection. In the United Kingdom, physical games suitable only for ages 12 and over must be classified under the Video Recordings Act, using PEGI, by the Video Standards Council; games for younger children are rated voluntarily.

Sources

  1. About ESRB, Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  2. Our History (ESRB), Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  3. Content Rated By: An Oral History of the ESRB. Prologue and Part 1: Doom to the Power of Ten, Blake J. Harris, 22 November 2019, Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  4. Content Rated By: An Oral History of the ESRB. Part 3: Parallel Tracks, Blake J. Harris, 15 December 2019, Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  5. Content Rated By: An Oral History of the ESRB. Part 4: Evolution, Expansion & Enforcement (or Lack Thereof), Blake J. Harris, 13 January 2020, Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  6. Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, concurring opinion of Alito, J., 564 U.S. 786 (2011), No. 08-1448, Alito, J., concurring in the judgment, Supreme Court of the United States (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)
  7. Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, opinion of the Court, 564 U.S. 786 (2011), No. 08-1448, opinion of Scalia, J., Supreme Court of the United States (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)
  8. Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, syllabus, 564 U.S. 786 (2011), No. 08-1448, syllabus, Supreme Court of the United States (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)
  9. Frequently Asked Questions (ESRB), Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  10. Ratings Guide (ESRB), Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
  11. The PEGI organisation, PEGI (Pan European Game Information)
  12. Explanatory Memorandum to the Video Recordings (Labelling) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/1767, Explanatory Memorandum, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, legislation.gov.uk (UK Government)

Last reviewed October 2, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research