M (Mature 17+)

How to read it

The ESRB says an M game “may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.” Its Intense Violence descriptor means graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict, which may involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons and depictions of human injury and death; Blood and Gore means depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts. The ESRB system is voluntary, though all console makers and some US retailers and online stores require a rating.

Also searched as: esrb mature, rated m.

Who can buy an M-rated game

The rating doesn’t have the force of law in the US. California passed a law in 2005 banning the sale or rental of “violent video games” to minors and requiring them to be labelled “18”; in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011), the Supreme Court held that the law did not comport with the First Amendment, because video games qualify for First Amendment protection. The ESRB sums up the ruling as meaning that the sale of violent games may not be restricted by law.

Limits on sales are store policy. The ESRB says most major retailers verify age for the sale or rental of M and AO games. The Supreme Court’s opinion records that the Video Software Dealers Association encourages retailers to rent or sell M games to minors only with parental consent. Compliance has been measured several times: Justice Alito’s opinion in Brown cites a 2004 Federal Trade Commission report in which 69 percent of unaccompanied 13- to 16-year-olds were able to buy M-rated games, and the ESRB now cites the FTC as finding that unaccompanied children are stopped 87% of the time.

Advertising M games

Industry guidelines, enforced by the ESRB, prohibit the inappropriate target marketing of Mature-rated games.

M and AO

AO (Adults Only 18+) is one year older and goes further: “prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content and/or gambling with real currency.” In Europe there is no 17; PEGI 16 starts where violence or sexual activity looks as it would in real life, and PEGI 18 covers gross violence, apparently motiveless killing and violence towards defenceless characters (see PEGI ages). The US film and TV ratings for a similar audience are R and TV-MA.