ESRB Ratings Will Warn of Random Item Purchases

ESRB

The ESRB has announced that video games will now feature both an age rating and a warning label about in-game purchases and if those purchases can include random items. While game labels have included the “in-game purchases”  language about microtransactions for the past two years, the addition of the “includes random items” verbiage is new and reflects the ratings agency’s ongoing effort “to provide even greater transparency about the nature of in-game items available for purchase”.

“This new Interactive Element, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), will be assigned to any game that contains in-game offers to purchase digital goods or premiums with real-world currency (or with virtual coins or other forms of in-game currency that can be purchased with real-world currency) for which the player doesn’t know prior to purchase the specific digital goods or premiums they will be receiving (e.g., loot boxes, item packs, mystery awards).”

The newest blog on the ESRB site indicates that this language will be applied to all games that have any type of randomized, purchasable content that includes “loot boxes, gacha games, item or card packs, prize wheels, treasure chests, and more”.

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