Statements in Support of the International Age Rating Coalition from Industry and Elected Officials

The International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a recently established organization representing ESRB and other interactive entertainment classification authorities from around the world, is fortunate to have support from elected officials, industry, and other stakeholders who praise its effective and streamlined process for assigning locally relevant and trusted age and content rating information for digitally delivered games and mobile apps:

U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers: “As the mom of three young children who are growing up surrounded by exciting new apps, video games, and other forms of entertainment, I applaud efforts by the private sector to keep our children safe and parents informed about the content young Americans are viewing—regardless of medium: whether it’s on video game consoles, PCs, or mobile devices.”

U.S. Representative Jim McGovern: “Parenting today isn’t easy. We can’t be everywhere at once. As a father of two teenage children, there’s only so much that I can do to protect my kids from being exposed to inappropriate forms of entertainment. It’s important that we have responsible rating systems and that’s why I’m pleased that the ERSB, Google, Mozilla, and the International Age Rating Coalition have taken the steps to inform families like mine which games are ok to play. Information is key when it comes to parents making responsible choices for their kids – whether it’s about video game consoles, PCs, or mobile devices. These ratings provide critical information for parents as they decided what games are appropriate for their children. More importantly, these ratings help parents like me make informed decisions when it comes to video games. I strongly support this new approach to broaden informed and responsible accessibility to mobile games and apps.”

Rick Fant, vice president, Apps and Marketplace, Mozilla Corporation: “We’ve been working with IARC for more than a year and the classification system has proven to be effective for the Firefox Marketplace, developers and users. The key value proposition for Firefox Marketplace users is accessing locally relevant age and content rating information from the experts.”

Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software; chairman of the board, Entertainment Software Association: “For more than 20 years, the ESRB has provided invaluable leadership to the interactive entertainment industry and played an integral role in protecting the creative freedom of today’s most innovative artists and storytellers. In addition, the ESRB has been lauded resoundingly as a highly effective resource for consumers, particularly parents, ensuring that gamers of any age can easily access trusted content rating information. Together with the other associations, the International Age Rating Coalition is poised to take a bold and important step forward with Google Play and Mozilla Firefox Marketplace that will enhance further our industry’s standards of excellence and self-regulation.”

Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox; vice chairman of the board, Entertainment Software Association: “Microsoft has been a longtime supporter of ESRB ratings. Our users are familiar with them and, more importantly, trust them. We will continue to support IARC’s creation of a global ratings solution that makes it seamless for developers and producers to get their digitally delivered contentrated globally to benefit consumers in their purchasing decisions.”

Reggie Fils-Aime, President and COO of Nintendo of America: “Nintendo has always been a strong advocate of helping people make smart choices about the games they buy for themselves and for their children. More than 20 years ago, Nintendo was instrumental in supporting the creation of consumer-friendly rating systems, and now we’ve joined with other leaders in the video game industry to support the IARC initiative. As digital downloads continue to grow in popularity, it’s more important than ever for people to be educated about the content of the games they are buying.”

Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO, Entertainment Software Association: “The partnerships with Google and Mozilla will provide localized ratings and content information to scores of millions of parents around the world. It will help ensure that game consumers in North America have access to trusted ESRB ratings across devices—consoles, computers, smartphones and tablets. This is the latest example of our industry’s unrivaled and long-standing engagement with parents.”

John Riccitiello, CEO, Unity Technology; former CEO, Electronic Arts; former chairman of the board, Entertainment Software Association: “Having been an early supporter of IARC for years, I applaud Google and Mozilla for taking the initiative to deploy the IARC rating system. The IARC system presents a common- sense solution with a single standard, providing locally relevant age and content ratings that consumers recognize and trust. Obtaining IARC ratings is free to the app developer and incredibly easy to use.”

For more information about IARC, please visit www.globalratings.com