E for Everyone Was the Most-Assigned Age Rating in 2023
Continuing an ongoing trend, E for Everyone was the most frequently assigned rating category in 2023. If you’re familiar with these stats from previous years, this should come as no surprise, but it’s always interesting to see how many new games are age appropriate for everyone in the family on a yearly basis. Check out our Rating Category Breakdown to see more stats about how often each Rating Category was assigned to the more than 4,000 rating assignments in 2023.
E (Everyone)
47% of all ratings assigned to physical and console downloadable games in 2023 were E for Everyone. This shows that there are nearly two thousand new video game options that may be appropriate for your whole family!
E10+ (Everyone 10+)
In 2023, Everyone 10+ was assigned 17% of the time, which is identical to 2022. This means that more than 60% of the new games released throughout the year may be appropriate for your 10-year-old!
T (Teen 13+)
23% of ratings assigned were for T for Teen last year – a slight increase from 2022. Combined with E and E10+, almost 9 out of 10 ratings assigned to physical and console downloadable games released in 2023 are appropriate for your teenager.
M (Mature 17+)
As is the same every year, M for Mature was assigned the least frequently in 2023, with 13% of rating assignments (up 1% from 2022).
No one knows your kids better than you!
Rating Categories are a great first step to understanding what’s in a game before buying or downloading it for your kids. But like most things in life, context matters! Fortunately, ESRB provides even more information to help you decide what’s appropriate for your family at a glance. ESRB also assigns Content Descriptors to indicate why a game was assigned a specific rating and/or what parents might want to know about. This includes terms and phrases to let you know if a game includes content like language, crude humor, violence, and more. ESRB also assigns Interactive Elements, which let you know if a game includes features like the ability to communicate with others online or offers to make in-game purchases. And if you still want more information, you can also consult our rating summaries, which are available for all physical games by title search on our website and mobile app.
Beyond the ratings, there are so many other resources at your disposal to help manage your kids’ video game experiences. In fact, parents say picking up the controller, checking the ratings, and talking with other parents are the most popular ways to help determine if a game is OK for their kids to play.
Remember: No one knows your kids better than you! Sometimes a younger child may be ready for a T-rated game, and other times a 14-year-old may need some more time. ESRB is here to help provide you with tips to help you make (and back up!) those decisions while maintaining some peace of mind. For more information on what you can do to keep you kids’ video game experiences positive, visit our Family Gaming Guide – a comprehensive, user-friendly guide that provides tips for picking appropriate games, managing online communications, establishing household rules, setting up child accounts and parental controls, and more!
