Loot Boxes And Battle Passes Are About To Impact Game Ratings More Harshly

The latest set of changes coming to the Pan-European Games Information (PEGI) rating system will impact how games that feature loot boxes, microtransactions, and NFTs will be rated going forward.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, games that have loot boxes or similar random items, like card packs or gacha pulls, will be rated PEGI 16 once these changes take effect in June. If a game has more traditional, yet limited-time microtransactions like a battle pass, it'll usually be rated PEGI 12. That can be dropped to PEGI 7 if there's an in-game option to disable spending. The same rating will be given to games that have daily quests or login rewards.

New games will also now be given a PEGI 18 rating instantly if they feature NFTs, are a social casino game, or have communication features with reporting systems or community standards. These are all sweeping, online-gaming focused changes to the PEGI rating system that are much more intense than the in-game purchases content descriptor that it previously used.