UK government set to snub industry advice on games ratings

Report to support classification from BBFC alone

31 July 2008 13:21 GMT / By Verity Burns

It seems the UK government is set to ignore advice from industry insiders on how best to rate video games, in a report due out on Friday.

The issue was first raised in a study by Tanya Byron, in which she said a solid rating system was needed in the UK and suggested both PEGI and BBFC work together to classify games.

However, the gaming industry came out en masse and put strong arguments forward on why they would prefer to work solely with PEGI on a self-regulated system.

Publishers included Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Sega and Nintendo, while entertainment organisation ELSPA also came forward in support of PEGI.

Yet despite this, the government is expected to declare that games in the UK be rated by the BBFC alone in the the CMS Select Committee paper addressing "Harmful Content on the Internet and Videogames", being published on Friday.

We'll bring you any more news from the report when it is released.

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