ESRB: Only 5% of 2010 games were rated Mature

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New data reveals mature games in the minority, again

The Jack Thompsons and Fox Newsies of this world would like to have us all believe all video games are a cesspool of violence, murder and pre-marital sex. True, a good chunk of the high-profile games do carry these traits, but according to 2010 stats released by the ESRB, it's the E for Everyone games that rule the roost, with mature games representing only a miniscule fraction of the games released last year...

In comparison,the percentage of mature titles in 2010was less than2009's6% total, and not even half that of2004 and 2005's12% tally.

Despite the data, the reality is news stories about Petz Fashion: Dogz and Catzrarely make for greatstories, whereas plastering the 6 o'clock news report with images ofBulletstorm is a primo way of stirring controversy (aka ratings). However,according to Epic Games's President Mike Capps, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

When asked how Fox News'pre-release blastingof Bulletstorm did for sales, he said,"For what [the Fox coverage] did for Bulletstorm... yes, there were people who were very excited about any attention at all. For a game that's over-the-top, they probably helped sell more units than they convinced people to pick at us."

So...negative stereotypes are good for business?

[Source:ESRBviaGamrfeed]

Mar 16, 2011

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Matt Bradford

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.