ESRB comments on trailer content rating

It was reported a while earlier that the ESRB was conducting a more active crackdown on offensive content in trailers and gameplay movies. And consequently, two gameplay trailers of D3 Publisher and Take-Two Interactive‘s Dark Sector was pulled out of Game Trailers.

  

A statement by D3 Publisher penned the reason why the two trailers were retracted from the site: the two trailers contained offensive content and have been deemed not safe to distribute, view or download. Although the two trailers were age-gated as required by the ESRB, it was found that the two gameplay movies were rated based on standards set by the Advertising Review Council – a different rating from the ESRB’s on games themselves.

“The ESRB has requested that the two Dark Sector gameplay montages be pulled immediately upon receipt of this notice and no longer made available for view by consumers,” concluded Take-Two’s official statement. GameVideos later made it known that Microsoft also requested that a Gears of War developer walkthrough video be pulled out of their archives last week, after it was found that the media content violated ESRB rules.

Patricia Vance of the ESRB soon sent in their official stand on the matter, stating that the board’s regulation of media content was nothing new or spectacular. They have enforced such rules based on the Advertising Review Council Principles and Guidelines since 2005 and will continue to remind and educate the respective parties of the board’s rulings.

And they have maintained that trailer ratings cannot come from the game’s final rating while it’s in development, so the ESRB uses the standards set forth by the Advertising Review Council to rate trailers that obviously speak out for the game. And they pin the responsibility and initiative upon the publisher to make the necessary actions based on the ARC’s Principles and Guidelines.

Via Gamasutra

It was reported a while earlier that the ESRB was conducting a more active crackdown on offensive content in trailers and gameplay movies. And consequently, two gameplay trailers of D3 Publisher and Take-Two Interactive‘s Dark Sector was pulled out of Game Trailers.

  

A statement by D3 Publisher penned the reason why the two trailers were retracted from the site: the two trailers contained offensive content and have been deemed not safe to distribute, view or download. Although the two trailers were age-gated as required by the ESRB, it was found that the two gameplay movies were rated based on standards set by the Advertising Review Council – a different rating from the ESRB’s on games themselves.

“The ESRB has requested that the two Dark Sector gameplay montages be pulled immediately upon receipt of this notice and no longer made available for view by consumers,” concluded Take-Two’s official statement. GameVideos later made it known that Microsoft also requested that a Gears of War developer walkthrough video be pulled out of their archives last week, after it was found that the media content violated ESRB rules.

Patricia Vance of the ESRB soon sent in their official stand on the matter, stating that the board’s regulation of media content was nothing new or spectacular. They have enforced such rules based on the Advertising Review Council Principles and Guidelines since 2005 and will continue to remind and educate the respective parties of the board’s rulings.

And they have maintained that trailer ratings cannot come from the game’s final rating while it’s in development, so the ESRB uses the standards set forth by the Advertising Review Council to rate trailers that obviously speak out for the game. And they pin the responsibility and initiative upon the publisher to make the necessary actions based on the ARC’s Principles and Guidelines.

Via Gamasutra