ESRB Blog

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Featured Blog Post

The Age of Online Age Verification Begins. (Maybe?)

Last week’s groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling upholding Texas’s age verification law for access to adult content in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton demands attention now. Read on for a quick summary of the ruling and our thoughts on what this all means for video game companies and the ever-expanding patchwork of kids’ privacy, online safety, and social media laws.

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Jul 2, 2025

The Age of Online Age Verification Begins. (Maybe?)

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

Aug 9, 2024

#KidsPrivacy Trending for TikTok: Top Takeaways from the New COPPA Enforcement Action

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

child using a tablet

Jan 8, 2024

Probing the FTC’s COPPA Proposals: Updates to Kids’ Privacy Rule Follow Agency’s Focus on Technological Changes

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

Sep 19, 2023

A New Season for Kids’ Privacy: Court enjoins California’s Landmark Youth Privacy Law — Protecting Children Online Remains a Prime Concern

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

Video game showing you how to protect kids' privacy under COPPA.

Jul 5, 2023

COPPA Battlegrounds: The Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the FTC’s Kids’ Privacy Actions

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

Fortnite on a PC. Learn what the FTC's settlement with Epic Games means for kids' & teens' privacy.

Dec 21, 2022

Wrapping Up 2022 with A Huge (Epic) Fortnite Privacy Case

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

Speak with your kids and teens on how to manage their privacy

Oct 28, 2022

What Parents Need to Know About Privacy in Mobile Games: Communicate with Your Kids

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

It's important that kids enter the correct date of birth at age gates

Oct 27, 2022

What Parents Need to Know About Privacy in Mobile Games: Don’t Let Your Children Lie About Their Ages

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

ESRB Privacy Certified seals show compliance with the COPPA and rigorous program requirements.

Oct 26, 2022

What Parents Need to Know About Privacy in Mobile Games: Look for the ESRB Privacy Certified Seal

By Stacy Feuer, Sr. Vice President, Privacy Certified

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Did You Know?

65% of the ESRB ratings assigned to physical and console downloadable video games in 2024 were either E (Everyone) or E10+ (Everyone 10+).

Did You Know?

84% of parents with kids who play video games are aware of ESRB ratings and 78% regularly check them before buying a game. (Source: Hart Research Associates, 2024)

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, 2024)

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 67% of parents would be more comfortable allowing their children to download and play a game certified by ESRB Privacy Certified (Source: Hart Research Associates, 2024).

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 36 years old.

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