14 DAY TRIAL // After Electronic Arts representative Keith Ramsdale warned that a new rating system might lead to delays for game launches in the United Kingdom, it's Microsoft?s turn to rally against the intention of the British government to introduce a reform when it comes to rating videogames.
Neil Thompson, executive at Microsoft, is articulating the Redmond giant?s warning by saying that "We're in the business of providing great games to a broad audience of gamers, and we need to be able to fulfill that role by getting products to consumers quickly and at a good price. We're concerned with any measures that would mean this process is made more unwieldy, or incurs additional costs which have to be shared with the consumer".
The not so subtle idea in his statement is that reforming the way the British Board of Film Classification will make videogame publishers pay more fees to the rating board and spend more money on making the game compliant with both the BBFC standards and the PEGI rating used in Europe.
The opposition of the publishers comes after the Byron review recommended that the BBFC should classify games that are rated over 12+ by the PEGI. As it is now, only games rated 15 and 18 are subjected to BBFC review.
Neil Thompson declared support for PEGI, saying that "We want a steady stream of product to consumers via retail and therefore support PEGI as the single ratings system in the UK".
It is very likely that even if the Byron recommendations are implemented by the government, publishers would not move to make games more expensive or to launch them later. It is likely that the possibility of loss revenue will make both Microsoft and Electronic Arts very open to adapt to the new standards. But the statements issued are designed to put some pressure on the government to maintain the current BBFC videogame rating system.