Is Loot Box Presence in Video Games Being Correctly and Consistently Labelled? Comparing All Age Rating Decisions Made by the German USK, the American ESRB, and the European PEGI in 2023

Loot boxes in video games that provide random rewards in exchange for real-world money have been identified as gambling-like and potentially harmful. Many stakeholders are concerned. One regulatory approach is to label games with loot boxes with a presence warning. This has been adopted by the age rating organizations of Germany (the USK), North America (the ESRB), and Europe (PEGI). Previous research, by cross-checking the historical age rating decisions made by the ESRB and PEGI between April 2020 and September 2022, has identified mistakes where one or both organizations failed to label certain games with loot boxes as containing them. The USK only started identifying loot box presence from 2023 and so could not previously be studied. All age rating decisions concerning games with loot boxes made in 2023 by the USK, the ESRB, and PEGI were compared. This process identified how the USK has seemingly (i) failed to label two games as containing loot boxes and (ii) adopted an unspoken policy of giving games with loot boxes a USK 12 rating (i.e., 'approved for children aged 12 and above') at a minimum. Confirmation of the above has been sought from the USK, and an official reply has been promised and is expected imminently. In addition, the ESRB and PEGI have correctly labelled all games with loot boxes that they assessed in 2023 as containing them, thus giving the public more confidence in the reliability of their age rating information and demonstrating an improvement from their performance in previous years. © 2024 IEEE.