WAR may delay again… but just for Brits

June 26, 2008 – 9:08 am

Spinks and Arbitrary must be thrilled!

I’m going to be up front and say that I don’t know all the details, so this may just be fear mongering, but according to this article, another delay may be in the cards solely for UK Warhammer Online fans.

“The government’s proposed changes to the existing age rating systems will create further delays in getting hit games to the UK,” he said. “An extra and unnecessary layer of administration beyond a single system slows the process, and that delay will get passed on to the players themselves.”

Those proposed changes would see a marked increase in the number of games rated by the BBFC, specifically anything that would require a 12-plus certification or higher. Meanwhile the role of PEGI would be scaled back to concentrate on all titles suitable for under-12s.

My understanding is that WAR will ship with a Teen rating by ESRB standards, but I’m not sure how that translates overseas. My suspicion is that NA gamers are much less sensitive than EU gamers (or at least their governments are), so at the very least, the Teen rating will probably stick in both regions. I suspect this because of all the hubaloo Funcom went through with censorship in Europe and the lack of thereof in North America.

WAR seems likely to fall into the category of 12+ gamers (Teen), hence it may be bound by ratings decisions made in the Byron Review.

What are your feelings on censorship in MMOs?

Update - I looked through the report and took note of the suggested Video Game timeline on page 208:

Based on this, I’m thinking this won’t end up affecting Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning unless it delays for other reasons entirely. Click the image to view the report PDF.

Thankfully, I said “may” delay instead of “will” delay!

Here’s another update: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/bbfc-hits-back-at-microsoft-and-ea

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Post tags: EA Mythic, Warhammer Online

12 Responses to “WAR may delay again… but just for Brits”
I thought the rating was already filed on the game in that country?

If so, does this change mean that ALL the games that have been filed previously, have to go through the system again, or just get retro’d into the fold.

By Brotik on Jun 26, 2008
As a Brit, I’m not too worried about a delay. It usually takes a while to get new legislation drafted and voted through Parliament, and I can’t imagine it being in place for a while yet.

Also, the quote in question is from an EA suit, who is obviously going to attack the proposal because the extra regulation will cost them money.

Basically, there is no reason to believe that this will delay UK games until after they ship elsewhere, and if worse comes to worst, they are more likely to delay for everyone so they can have a unified marketing push

By unwise on Jun 26, 2008
Well, if you convert to metric, a 12 year old here is something like 27 in Europe. So, I really don’t see what the problem is.

By dave on Jun 26, 2008
Lol @ Dave.

Please check out my update above. Y’all made me do some digging!

By Snafzg on Jun 26, 2008
I read the title and was like;
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *gasp* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But I read the rest and seems that, as usual, the red tape and beaurachracy will triumph!

But in Europe we’re getting Guild Beta before you colonial-rebels! (Not that I’ll be in it… )

By Gordo on Jun 26, 2008
This is just the Industry blowing hot air, I think. He has to say something so he’s making some random threats on game delivery dates. And as you see, the timescale is pretty slow (as with all things government).

I expect what they will end up with is some kind of voluntary industry agreement to label games in accordance with some criteria (lets face it, no ratings board is going to have the time to play through hundreds of games just to check for blood spatters).

I don’t mind them labelling games (although how come no one ever suggests them labelling books?) as long as they let adults buy the mature rated ones. I don’t think it’ll accomplish anything, no one will have trouble getting an adult to buy a game for them if they want, but hey.

By Spinks on Jun 26, 2008
Looks like the Brits won’t have to worry about a delay after all!

By Matt Graham on Jun 26, 2008
God Bless slow-moving democracy!

By Snafzg on Jun 26, 2008
The Byron Report brought up some interesting stuff, but I think the timing is still a bit off to affect us (or I really really hope so!). I agree with unwise and spinks, and hope that our Govt really takes as long as usual.

I actually glanced at the story this morning, thought about it, shook my head and decided to hope it wouldn’t make an impact, especially not so soon after we were told we’d be getting everything at the same time.

By arbitrary on Jun 26, 2008
I was idly browsing the GOA FAQ today and for reference it’s getting a USK and PEGI rating of 12+
http://www.war-europe.com/#/help/?id_faq=en1&lang=en

By arbitrary on Jun 27, 2008