EGDF lobbies for developersâ?? say in PEGI ratings

The European Games Developer Federation (EGDF) wants developers’ views to be better represented when games are given their PEGI age rating.

And EGDF chairman Guillaume de Fondaumiere is lobbying the Interactive Software Federation of Europe to get a seat on the PEGI ratings board.

de Fondaumiere – also the co-CEO of Heavy Rain studio Quantic Dream – told gamesindustry.biz that the game rating decision process is “debated without, really, taking the developer’s perspective into account."

He said that developers should be at the forefront of the age ratings debate.

"A lot of people – politicians, publishers – have been kind of playing ping pong in bringing up arguments and talking about basically our creations,” he said.

"We’ve never really heard authors, game creators, speak out on the subject, outside of certain exceptions with people coming forward and expressing some frustration or anger at some points over some games being banned.

"As the chairman of the EGDF, I asked ISFE in December if we could join the PEGI board and be really involved in crafting the politics of the PEGI ratings system – to be able to discuss how the ratings work."

de Fondaumiere is no stranger to lobbying. As he explained to Develop last year, the EGDF chair had lobbied for France’s cultural development tax breaks.