Starting this June, games stuffed with loot boxes across Europe are getting slapped with a PEGI 16 rating. That’s a pretty big deal in the gaming world, but it also raises a messy question: does anyone actually pay attention to these ratings anymore?
The Pan-European Game Information body (PEGI) has finally decided to treat loot boxes like what researchers increasingly say they are—a form of gambling dressed up as entertainment. After years of debate and studies showing how these random mystery items blur the line between gaming and actual gambling, the organisation is making some serious changes to how it rates games.
What’s Actually Changing?
Games with paid random items will now automatically get PEGI 16, with potential jumps to PEGI 18 in extreme cases. We’re talking about titles like EA Sports FC, which have been letting players throw money at packs of random players for years. Those games are about to look very different on store shelves.
But loot boxes aren’t the only thing getting new ratings. PEGI is expanding its scope across the board. Games with paid battle passes get PEGI 12. NFTs in games? Straight to PEGI 18. Games with daily quests that punish you for not logging in regularly? Also getting upgraded.
It’s actually a comprehensive overhaul of how the rating system handles monetisation mechanics that frankly weren’t properly categorized before.
The Problem Nobody’s Talking About
Here’s where things get awkward. These new ratings only apply to games released after June. Games already out there, games kids are actively playing right now, don’t get the new treatment. Emily Tofield from the Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust pointed out the obvious flaw: “Without applying the rules to current games the policy will do little to protect the children who are already playing them.”
Think about that for a second. The system’s updating but only for future releases. Meanwhile, millions of young players are already deep into games with heavy loot box systems. They’re not getting any additional protection.
The UK government actually had a chance to regulate this stuff through the Gambling Act back in 2022. They decided not to, arguing there wasn’t enough evidence of a “causative link” to harms. That decision’s looking pretty questionable now, especially with research from Bournemouth University earlier this year highlighting how gaming mechanics like loot boxes function as risk factors for problem gambling in young people.
Who Actually Enforces This?
The real kicker is that enforcement relies heavily on parents actually knowing about these ratings and caring enough to check them. Vic Hood, a freelance video games journalist, summed it up perfectly: the changes are positive on paper, but “it will largely be down to parents to educate themselves on why these changes have been brought in.”
That’s a lot of responsibility to dump on parents who are already juggling a thousand things. Most people grabbing a game for their kid probably glance at the PEGI rating for five seconds and move on. The fact that a game now says PEGI 16 instead of PEGI 12 might not even register.
Trade body Ukie put out guidance in 2023 requiring game companies to restrict players under 18 from buying loot boxes without parental consent. The Advertising Standards Authority is also supposedly banning ads that don’t clearly disclose loot box systems. But without legislation backing this up, it’s mostly voluntary compliance territory.
What This Actually Means
Dirk Bosmans, PEGI’s director, said they’re “confident” these updates will provide “more useful and transparent advice.” Maybe they will. The research definitely backs the concern. Dr Ruijie Wang from Bournemouth University called recognising loot boxes as a risk factor “an important step towards reflecting the realities of modern game design.”
The problem is that the gaming industry has spent years optimizing these systems to be as engaging (and profitable) as possible. A higher age rating might make some parents pause, but it won’t stop teenagers from playing. It definitely won’t stop the games from existing or the monetisation from working exactly the way it’s designed to work.
PEGI’s new system is better than nothing. It’s acknowledging a real problem in modern gaming that’s been deliberately ignored for way too long. But unless there’s actual legislation—the kind with teeth—and unless parents start taking these ratings seriously, we’re basically just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
The question isn’t really whether PEGI’s doing the right thing. They are. The question is whether any of this actually changes behaviour, or whether it just makes everyone feel a little better about a system that’s fundamentally designed to extract money from the youngest players.
