Republic Of Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) Becomes Newest Participant in IARC Rating System
GRAC joins other international rating organizations in administering the streamlined age classification process for digital and mobile games.
New York, NY – The International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) today announced that it has signed an agreement with GRAC, the Republic of Korea’s game content rating board, making it the newest rating authority to participate in the global rating system for digital games and mobile apps. The IARC rating system allows GRAC to assign its age and content ratings for games in participating storefronts. Current storefronts using the IARC system include Google Play, Microsoft Store, Nintendo eShop and the Oculus Store with other storefronts, including the PlayStation Store, to be added soon.
GRAC will join the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in North America, PEGI in Europe, ClassInd in Brazil, USK in Germany and the Classification Board in Australia in using the streamlined IARC system to ensure that today’s digital consumers have consistent access to established and trusted age ratings across game devices.
“As the market for digital games continues to expand, it’s essential that rating authorities continue to innovate and collaborate to provide consumers with access to the ratings they know and trust in their home regions,” said Patricia Vance, ESRB president and chairperson of IARC. “GRAC understands this need, and will be a valuable partner in continuing to provide digital game and app storefronts with trusted age and content ratings administered by the IARC rating system.”
“In the current global platform-centric game market collaboration among rating authorities is inevitable.” said Myeungsook Yoh, chairperson of GRAC. “GRAC finds the IARC system highly effective and useful in that a single questionnaire can assign different ratings for respective regions while conveying the cultural standards of each territory. This will allow immediate assignment of ratings, and will provide familiar information for consumers. GRAC hopes the collaborative work among rating authorities will help to establish a healthy game entertainment culture in Korea.”
About IARC
The IARC system assigns age ratings, content descriptors and interactive elements for digital games and apps. Developers can only access the system and use IARC ratings on digital storefronts that have licensed and integrated the system into their on-boarding process. There is no cost for developers to use the system, which features a single questionnaire that once completed immediately assigns different ratings for various territories around the world. Those IARC-certified ratings are then ingested by the storefront and mapped to their respective regions. IARC and its participating rating authorities are responsible for monitoring and ensuring the accuracy of ratings assigned by the system. The fundamental goal is to enable digital consumers, especially parents, to have broad access to established, credible and locally relevant ratings for interactive entertainment products, regardless of the device on which they consume them.
The six IARC rating authority participants, which collectively represent regions serving approximately 1.5 billion people, include:
- Classificação Indicativa (ClassInd) – Brazil
- Classification Board (ACB) – Australia
- Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) – Republic of Korea
- Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) – North America
- Pan European Game Information (PEGI) –Europe
- Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) – Germany
The system also assigns a legally compliant age rating in Russia and generic IARC ratings in all other territories without a participating rating authority. For more information about IARC, including a video and infographic, please visit www.globalratings.com.
About ESRB
The ESRB is a non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns age and content ratings for video games and mobile apps so parents can make informed choices. It also enforces advertising guidelines adopted by the video game industry and helps companies implement responsible online and mobile privacy practices under its Privacy Certified program. Visit www.esrb.org for more information.
About GRAC
The Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) is a public organization fostering the healthy game culture and development of the game industry in Korea. GRAC assigns age and content ratings for all games (PC packages, PC online, Mobile, Arcade, Console, Downloadable, Embedded games, etc.) that are manufactured or distributed in Korea. It also monitors and enforces illegal distribution of games, game websites, arcades, and gambling game elements to protect the public from negative influences. Visit http://www.grac.or.kr/english/ for more information.
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Beth Llewlyn
206.406.5027
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