ESRB Ratings | Entertainment Software Ratings Board

ESRB ratings provide information about what’s in games or apps so consumers can make informed choices

Search ESRB Game Ratings

Most Viewed Games:

ESRB ratings provide information about what’s in a game or app so parents and consumers can make informed choices about which games are right for their family. Ratings have 3 parts: Rating Categories, Content Descriptors, and Interactive Elements.

Learn More About Ratings

About the ESRB

Our primary mission is to help parents make informed decisions about the video games and apps their children play. Our Advertising Review Council actively enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and our Privacy Certified program helps ensure responsible web and mobile privacy practices.

Rating Categories
Content Descriptors
Interactive Elements
Rating Summary

Rating categories suggest age appropriateness.

Learn More About Ratings

Descriptors

Content Descriptors indicate content that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern.

Learn More About Ratings

In-game purchases image

Interactive Elements highlight interactive or online features that may be of interest or concern but do not influence the rating assignment of a product. This includes users’ ability to interact with each other, the sharing of users’ location with other users, if purchases of digital goods or services are offered, and/or if unrestricted internet access is provided.

Learn More About Ratings

Rating Summaries are assigned to many physical games and provide more detailed information about the content in a game and its context. You can find rating summaries when you conduct a ratings search on this site or download our mobile app.

Learn More About Ratings

Tools for Parents

ESRB ratings make it easy for parents to get informed about the video games their kids play, but there’s more parents can do to stay involved and up to date. Learn how to set parental controls, manage your kids’ gameplay experiences using our Family Gaming Guide, download the ESRB mobile app, and more.

Parental controls help you manage your children’s video game use when you aren’t around, ESRB.

Parental Controls

Parental controls are available for virtually every device and allow you to block games and apps by rating, set time limits, manage in-game purchases, restrict access to the Internet, and more

ESRB guide to help provide parents with the key information they need to manage kids’ gameplay

Family Gaming Guide

This user-friendly guide will help provide you with the information you need to manage your kids’ video gameplay experiences and keep peace of mind.

A woman in the image is browsing ESRB ratings on her smartphone, checking the age-appropriate content for video games or other media in a retail setting.

ESRB Mobile App

Use our free mobile app to look up rating information, including Rating Summaries, on the go.

¡Vamos a Jugar! Las clasificaciones de ESRB facilitan que los padres estén informados

¡Vamos a Jugar!

Las clasificaciones de ESRB facilitan que los padres estén informados sobre los videojuegos que juegan sus hijos, pero hay más cosas que los padres pueden hacer para mantenerse involucrados y actualizados.

ESRB Blog

A cartoon family sits in a living room. A man and a child sit onthe floor while a woman and an older child sit on a beige sofa. They are all holding video game controllers and it looks like they're having a great time playing together!

Manage Your Kids’ Video Games With ParentalTools.org

Get ready for ESRB’s newest update to ParentalTools.org! We know that parents have a lot of options to manage your kids’ video games, ESRB is here to help with a refreshed parental controls section and Family Gaming Guide. Parental Controls Guides ESRB has long provided step-by-step parental controls guides for many popular video game devices. […]

Read the Full Story

View All

Did You Know?

67% of the ESRB ratings assigned to physical and console downloadable video games in 2022 were either E (Everyone) or E10+ (Everyone 10+).

Did You Know?

84% of parents who purchase physical video games for their children are aware of ESRB ratings and 74% regularly check them before buying a game. (Source: Hart Research Associates, 2022)

Did You Know?

Most parents consider each part (Rating Category, Content Descriptors, Interactive Elements) of the ESRB rating system to be either “very” or “extremely” important when deciding if a game or app is appropriate for their kids. (Source: Hart Research Associates, 2022)

Did You Know?

Industry guidelines, which are enforced by the ESRB, prohibit the inappropriate target marketing of Mature-rated games.

Did You Know?

ESRB has an enforcement system which allows for the imposition of sanctions, fines (including fines up to $1 million), and corrective actions on publishers for non-compliance with its guidelines.

Did You Know?

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission 87% of kids under the age of 17 are turned away when trying to buy an M-rated game at retail.

Did You Know?

The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote: “This [ESRB rating] system does much to ensure that minors cannot purchase seriously violent games on their own, and that parents who care about the matter can readily evaluate the games their children bring home.”

Did You Know?

The E (Everyone) rating was originally called K-A (Kids to Adults) but was changed in 1998.

Did You Know?

The ESRB rating system has three parts – Rating Categories, Content Descriptors and Interactive Elements, the latter of which were introduced in 2013.

Did You Know?

Introduced in 2008, Rating Summaries provide greater detail about the content in physical games rated by the ESRB, and are exclusively available on this website or the ESRB mobile app by conducting a title search.

Did You Know?

ESRB uses more than 30 different Content Descriptors to help communicate what’s in a game.

Did You Know?

The FTC considers the ESRB to have “the strongest self-regulatory code” among media rating systems in the U.S. and has confirmed that retailers maintain a high store policy compliance rate.

Did You Know?

Founded in 2013 by many of the world’s leading video game rating authorities, the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) administers the first globally streamlined age classification process for digital games and mobile apps that respects the unique cultural norms of each region.

Did You Know?

In 1999 ESRB Privacy Online (now called ESRB Privacy Certified) launched its certification program and was sanctioned by the FTC as a “Safe Harbor” under Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Did You Know?

More than 70% of parents would be more comfortable allowing their children to download and play a game certified by ESRB Privacy Certified (Source: Hart Research Associates, 2018).

Did You Know?

It’s never too late to have “the conversation” with your kids about what, when, and how they can play!

Did You Know?

Activating parental controls on your children’s video game devices helps you enforce house rules, such as limiting play time, blocking games with certain ESRB ratings, and managing in-game spending.

Did You Know?

The average gamer is 33 years old.