PEGI Raises Age Ratings for Loot Boxes and Exploitative Monetisation This June

Europe's games rating body PEGI has overhauled its age classification criteria to account for loot boxes, battle passes, daily login mechanics, NFTs, and online safety features, with the new rules taking effect in June across 38 countries.

The most significant change places a default PEGI 16 floor on any game containing "paid random items," the organisation's term for loot boxes and gacha systems. Under the updated criteria, those games cannot legally be sold to anyone 15 or under in the UK and every other European country that has adopted PEGI ratings into its legislation. PEGI has indicated certain cases could escalate further to PEGI 18, though it has not specified which conditions trigger that additional step.

The practical consequences for major franchises are stark. EA Sports FC, the latest entry in EA's football series, currently carries a PEGI 3 rating. Because Ultimate Team relies on loot box mechanics, EA Sports FC 27 would instead receive a PEGI 16 rating when submitted under the new criteria, unless EA strips those mechanics from the mode entirely. Given how much revenue Ultimate Team generates, that removal is widely considered unlikely.

Other monetisation systems get their own classifications. Games featuring time-limited or quantity-limited sale mechanics, including paid battle passes, will receive a minimum PEGI 12 rating. Fortnite, which already uses multiple paid passes, is already rated PEGI 12. Anything incorporating NFTs or blockchain-related mechanisms will be automatically rated PEGI 18 under the new rules. Games that lack any way for players to report or block other users online also face an automatic PEGI 18.

PEGI also introduced a specific category for what it calls "play-by-appointment" mechanics: features like daily quests and login rewards designed to pull players back on a schedule. These will attract a PEGI 7 rating by default, but if the mechanic punishes players for not returning, such as by causing them to lose content or progress, the rating rises to PEGI 12. Pokemon Go, currently rated PEGI 7 and featuring a loot box-like Egg system, will not receive a new rating under the changes.

PEGI council chair Beate Våje framed the update as a parenting tool: "With the updated set of age rating criteria, PEGI aims to make parents aware that certain features in games should be carefully assessed, and that parental tools can be a very helpful assistant when doing that."

The revisions bring PEGI in line with Germany's USK, which made comparable changes in 2023 following updates to the German Youth Protection Act. USK managing director Elisabeth Secker welcomed the alignment, stating: "We are happy to find ourselves once again aligned with PEGI in addressing online interaction risks as soon as these changes are coming into effect." Secker also shared data on the real-world effect of Germany's earlier update: at least one of the new USK criteria was applied to approximately 30% of all games submitted after the system changed, and around one in three of those titles received a higher age rating as a result.

Not everyone is convinced the changes go far enough. In an opinion piece, analyst Leon Y. Xiao argued the new PEGI rules apply only to newly submitted titles, meaning established live-service games like Genshin Impact and Brawl Stars, which were released years ago and generate enormous revenues through loot boxes, will not be reclassified unless resubmitted. "This means that in practice, this new rule will apply to very few games that actually matter," Xiao wrote.

The threshold PEGI chose also sits higher than other jurisdictions. Germany set its minimum at 12+ for loot box presence, Australia at 15+, and Apple at 9+ for its App Store, a spread that could create confusion for parents whose children switch between platforms. PEGI has not yet clarified precisely which conditions push a loot-box game from the default PEGI 16 up to PEGI 18, leaving that as an open question ahead of the June implementation.