As The Gaming Industry Continues To Evolve Are Video Games No Longer For Kids?

In the halcyon days of video games, the gloriously over the top 1980’s and early 90’s, you’d be hard pushed to find a title that was for adults only.  One such title, however, was Custer’s Revenge.  This disgusting ‘simulator’, whereby you take control of General Custer on his quest to rape Native-American woman, was released on the Atari 2600 in 1982.  Historical accuracy was perhaps not a high priority for the developer!   The Leisure Suit Larry series also springs to mind, with its Carry-On film humour and cheeky sensibilities, whose early games could be found on Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and Apple Mac computers.  There are others, of course, Bubble Bath Babes on the NES and the Turbo Grafix’s Strip Fighter II for instance, but the list is far from huge. 

It could be argued that 1992’s Mortal Kombat was one of the first games that really opened the video game certification can of worms.  The ‘hyper-violent’ game, which in today’s standards looks actually quite tame, was first brought to arcades rather than home consoles.  This meant that it was far harder to regulate who got to play the game, if any such policing occurred at all.  MK was also one of the first games to be seen as perhaps not for children due to its violence level rather than it having sexual content.  This was quite a watershed moment as in the past it was due to their ‘sexy’ subject matter (and I use that term VERY loosely) and not the amount of heads being severed that dictated who could get their hands on a game.

As the gaming industry has continued to advance, develop and change, the amount of titles that are deemed for adults, rather than children, has grown immensely.  To put this statement into context, March 2013’s big releases, Tomb Raider, God Of War 3 and Gears Of War: Judgment, are all 18 rated.  This is a strange trend as it is the opposite of the film industry.  Recent cinematic outings, Taken 2, Bourne Legacy and Live Free Or Die Hard, were all drastically cut to achieve a 12A rating in UK cinema’s to reach the largest demographic.  Why would games not wish this also?

There are two distinct thoughts that occur when trying to understand this industry-wide tendency.  Firstly, is that the majority of gamers are older so the age rating doesn’t negatively affect the sales of a particular release.  According to the US certification authority, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), 49% of North American gamers are between 18 to 49 years of age.  Although almost a half fit this age grouping, they also state that 25% are under 18.  Surely if developers felt that the content, and thus the attached rating, would negatively affect their sales by an entire quarter they would perhaps adjust it accordingly, no?

The second possibility for the upward trend of adult-rated video game prevalence is that a games certification doesn’t really matter a great deal, as parents will buy them for their kids regardless.   The UK video games industry commissioned a study, carried out in 2005, which came to the conclusion that parents largely ignored the age ratings on video games.  The report was the industry’s answer to the furore following the release of the Rockstar game Manhunt due to its levels of violence.  Much of the negative publicity that the title courted was due to the fact that children were found to be playing the ferocious and vicious title, even though it was rated for individuals 18 years old and over!

At the end of the day, revenue, turnover and profit dictate what games are developed and released.  It is simple economics, the laws of supply and demand.  As long as sales are not affected poorly by the certification, and adult-themed games perform well financially, these titles will continue to grow in prominence.  While these rated releases are aimed squarely at adults, and are not for children, they are still getting their little joy pad playing hands on them.  Therefore, if the industry is now supposedly a kid-free zone, this is in only in theory, not reality!