Google Play deal is major coup for age rating bodies

Age ratings body PEGI says getting on the Google Play store is a major win for the games industry and consumers.

PEGI struck a deal to rate apps and games on Google Play as part of an ‘international coalition’ of ratings bodies, which includes ESRB in the US, USK in Germany and others.

Now PEGI is looking to introduce age ratings on Xbox Live, PSN and Nintendo eShop, and is eager to get Steam and Amazon on-board.

It took us four years to get here,” said PEGI’s Dirk Bosmans. Google Play is a big player – just look at the sheer number of apps and games.

With the digital evolution moving faster, if we weren’t able to get on the Google Store, it would have been bad for us.”

Discussing the firm’s new International Age Ratings Coalition (IARC) system, which lets developers and publishers fill in one form to get age ratings for the US, Australian, European, UK and Brazilian games markets, Bosmans says: It’s a win, win situation. It is easier for games companies because now they have a simplified process. If your app has no inappropriate content, you can tick that up-front and you get your app rated for lots of markets around the world in minutes.”