E (Everyone)

How to read it

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the video game industry’s self-regulatory rating body in North America, says an E game’s content “is generally suitable for all ages” and may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language. For a boxed game, the rating is the consensus of at least three trained ESRB raters. The rating category suggests an age; content descriptors printed beside it say what may have triggered the rating. ESRB ratings are voluntary, though all console makers and some US retailers and online stores require one.

Also searched as: esrb e, rated e, rated e for everyone.

E and E10+

The two boxes are easy to confuse. E10+ games are, in the ESRB’s words, generally suitable for ages 10 and up, and may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes than an E game. Together the two are the most common ESRB ratings: the ESRB says 65% of the ratings it gave physical and console downloadable games in 2024 were E or E10+.

From K-A to E

E was called K-A, for Kids to Adults, until 1998, when the ESRB renamed it E (Everyone). In 2011 the US Supreme Court listed the ESRB’s categories as EC (Early Childhood), E, E10+, T, M and AO. EC does not appear in the ESRB’s current ratings guide.

Content descriptors often seen on milder games

These are some of the ESRB’s descriptors, defined in its ratings guide. Stronger ones are on the T, M and AO pages.

Interactive elements: what the letter doesn’t cover

An E game can still have in-game purchases or online chat. The ESRB lists these as interactive elements, which “do not influence the rating assignment”. In-Game Purchases means offers to buy digital goods or premiums with real money, such as bonus levels, skins, virtual coins, subscriptions or season passes. In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items) means the player doesn’t know what they will get before paying, as with loot boxes. Users Interact warns of possible exposure to unfiltered user-generated content, including chat between users. Shares Location means the game can show a user’s location to other users, and Unrestricted Internet means it gives open access to the web. The ESRB added interactive elements to digital games and apps in 2012, to boxed games in 2018, and the random-items version in 2020.

In Europe

Europe uses PEGI ratings instead. Its two youngest ages are PEGI 3, for content suitable for all age groups with no bad language, and PEGI 7, which allows scenes or sounds that may frighten younger children and very mild violence.