Guillaume de Fondaumiere
The EGDF chairman explains why he thinks developers should have a say in the PEGI process
With the PEGI ratings system gathering momentum - in the UK specifically it could become the new legal standard any time now - it's more important than ever that everybody in the industry is in agreement that it's the best possible solution.
Here, Guillaume de Fondaumiere - co-founder of Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream but also chairman of the European developer trade body, EGDF - outlines his reasons for pushing the creators of games to be a part of the decision-making process.
Ratings have become, in the past few years, a highly polemic subject - and one that's been debated without, really, taking the developer's perspective into account. A lot of people - politicians, publishers - have been kind of playing ping pong in bringing up arguments and talking about basically our creations.
We've never really heard authors, game creators, speak out on the subject, outside of certain exceptions with people coming forward and expressing some frustration or anger at some points over some games being banned.
So I think it's high time for us game developers to take some responsibility and to really be at the forefront of this debate. That's why, as the chairman of the EGDF, I asked ISFE in December if we could join the PEGI board and be really involved in crafting the politics of the PEGI ratings system - to be able to discuss how the ratings work.
I think it's particularly important today because there's a shift in paradigm in the industry. Today - I don't know the exact percentage, but more and more games are being published online, directly from the developers to the consumers.
I know that ISFE has now established PEGI Online, but we developers are absolutely not involved in the PEGI system. I think it's high time for us to be part of it, so I hope that ISFE is going to accept our proposition for joining the board.
We had a first meeting with [ISFE's] Simon Little, and he's been listening to us. He said he found it interesting - but I think it's time now to move forward and make it really happen.
I think it's a very, very serious matter, and I don't think that as we, as game developers, can be outside certain decisions that affect us, or may affect us, tremendously. We have to take a responsibility - we have to bring forward the arguments, and when there's a debate we have to make sure that any policy that's made takes the creator's vision into account.
Within the EGDF it's been unanimously agreed that we need to move forward and talk to ISFE. I'm pretty certain that an overwhelming majority of game developers will welcome this move.
As of today, the rating is something that's only taken into account by the developer very late in the process. It's usually only at the end of development that the publishers and developers start talking about it. It's a serious matter and I think that if we're not involved as game developers, we can't take it into account from design onwards.
I think that if we're involved, we're going to be more responsible - this is why this move is a very important one for the industry.