ESRB: Only 5% of 2010 games were rated Mature

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 data revealed yesterday, the ESRB revealed only 5% of the games in 2010 were rated mature, and titles rated E for Everyone dominated the market with a 55% share. Coming in secondwere Teen gamesat 21% and Everyone 10+ at 18%. Early Childhood titles ranked dead last, representing just 1% ofESRB's colorful pie.

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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