Since 2012, Pan European Game Information has been the standard videogames content regulator. Assigning 1 of 5 different age ratings to any videogame released in the UK, i.e. 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18

In 2012, the UK government decided to legally restrict the sales of videogames rated 12, 16 and 18 to anyone bellow the rated age. They also required all games to be released with a PEGI rating in the UK rather than a BBFC one(the standard age rating provider for all films released in the UK)

However, as of 2021, PEGI is a severely flawed system in the UK as it strays far too heavily from the BBFC. It also remains very inconsistent in its own delivered age ratings. e.g. Violence is measured on the basis of realism rather than psychological impact.

It is imperative that, whenever parents decide to follow content regulator guidelines, those games are treated with the same guidelines as those for film. There is just too large of a difference between BBFC opinion and PEGI:

e.g. Mass effect received a BBFC 12 rating for 'moderate violence and one sex scene' which was an accurate description and rating for the game. When the game was released with a PEGI rating, it received an 18 rating with the only reasoning shown being the a simple descriptor called 'violence'.

The 18 classification should only be reserved for games with adult content, which the BBFC did not believe was the case, however PEGI did.

Age ratings should be consistent and avoid being highly variable across different types of media. Reinstate the BBFC as the standard for videogame age ratings in the UK!