ELSPA refers parents to Pegi during Christmas shopping
UK industry body reminds those buying games as gifts over the holiday to check the age and content rating
ELSPA, the UK games industry trade body, has issued a call urging parents buying videogames as Christmas gifts to reference the Pegi age and content ratings on each box.
The combination of a number indicating an appropriate age and symbol representative of what content parents should be aware of has been adopted by almost all publishers across Europe.
"With a little over three weeks until Christmas, parents are under increased pressure from children looking to play their favourite games," commented Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA.
"But not all games are suitable for younger children so the games industry, which always has child safety at the forefront of its mind, knows that it is of paramount importance that parents carefully check the PEGI ratings and descriptors to ensure the game’s suitability for the intended player."
This comes as the pan-European self regulation system has been placed under increased pressure by the BBFC following the Byron report, which suggested that the governmental body take over videogames ratings.
ELSPA also recently announced plans to introduce a new traffic lights based system designed to address the shortcomings of the current ratings symbols.