You may have already seen this all over a bunch of websites, but PEGI decided today that simulated gambling will now receive the same age rating as real gambling: 18.
(Of course, lootboxes don't count and get to keep their 3 rating. The loophole is "because they don't actually depict a casino".)
This goes on top of their ~2008 decision that simulated gambling would have to receive a 12 rating (equivalent to ESRB T), which is of course what caused Game Corners to vanish from Platinum onward.
One thing that seems to have been missed by several sources: PEGI 18 is not the equivalent of ESRB M, but rather the equivalent of ESRB AO. You know, the rating that's associated with beyond-M extreme levels of sex/violence and causes a game to be de facto automatically banned from all five of Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft/retailers/Twitch. Imagine Pokemon Yellow and New Super Mario Bros. right up there.
The 3DS eShop/Virtual Console is already frozen and isn't going to change, and BDSP is already confirmed to have deleted the Game Corner, so what does this actually mean?
It means that even the potential for any Switch rereleases of Gen 1-4 Pokemon (and New Super Mario Bros.) is already dead in the water.
(Of course, lootboxes don't count and get to keep their 3 rating. The loophole is "because they don't actually depict a casino".)
This goes on top of their ~2008 decision that simulated gambling would have to receive a 12 rating (equivalent to ESRB T), which is of course what caused Game Corners to vanish from Platinum onward.
One thing that seems to have been missed by several sources: PEGI 18 is not the equivalent of ESRB M, but rather the equivalent of ESRB AO. You know, the rating that's associated with beyond-M extreme levels of sex/violence and causes a game to be de facto automatically banned from all five of Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft/retailers/Twitch. Imagine Pokemon Yellow and New Super Mario Bros. right up there.
The 3DS eShop/Virtual Console is already frozen and isn't going to change, and BDSP is already confirmed to have deleted the Game Corner, so what does this actually mean?
It means that even the potential for any Switch rereleases of Gen 1-4 Pokemon (and New Super Mario Bros.) is already dead in the water.