The Pan-European Game Information, the European video game age rating system, has announced new game rating rules. From June, projects containing paid random items — such as loot boxes, card packs, or gacha mechanics — will automatically receive a PEGI 16 age rating.
The changes will affect not only loot boxes, but also other elements of modern gaming services — in-game purchases, reward systems for daily login, and online communication. The new rules will only apply to games submitted for classification starting in June.
Main changes:
Paid random items
- Games with paid random rewards (loot boxes, gacha, keys for random items) — PEGI 16
- Social casino games — PEGI 18
In-game purchases
- Limited-time or quantity offers (e.g., paid battle passes or countdown timers) — PEGI 12
- If the game has built-in features that disable spending by default, the rating may be lowered to PEGI 7
- Games with NFT-related purchases that are necessary to play and can be sold within it will receive PEGI 18
Games that force you to spend as much time in them as possible
- Systems for rewarding returning to the game (daily quests, login streaks) — PEGI 7
- Battle passes where rewards become unavailable if conditions are not met — PEGI 12
- Games where the user may lose content or status due to absence in the game — also PEGI 12
Online communication security
- In rare cases, when a game offers completely uncontrolled communications without a complaint system or community rules, it will be assigned PEGI 18
Updating PEGI rules may lead to some future projects of well-known franchises receiving a higher age rating than developers originally anticipated. This, in turn, may affect both the marketing of games and their accessibility to a young audience.