The channel has previously spoken about how
last month’s Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was rated Mature in North America and 18+ in Europe.
If you look at game information websites, you’ll be able to see that this info is still listed.
However, at some point after the game was released, the game was, for some reason,
re-rated. And now, it is only rated Teen in North America and 16+ in Europe.
What is being seen here appears to be an effect of the IARC rating system, and it
is something that ch
annel believes is under reported and not well understood by people.
But when games are released with IARC ratings, the ratings are more susceptible to being
changed – and this can come even after a game has been released and can lead to
a lower rating or even a higher rating. IARC is a tool that is available to
get your game rated by the world’s rating systems – without actually having
to submit your game to the rating systems. The process is only available for digital-only
titles. And so,
if you release a game physically, you will need to have the rating systems
manually review your game for a rating. And IARC was designed to streamline the
rating process and make things easier, especially for smaller indie developers.
However, the IARC process is a matter of simply filling out a questionnaire
about your game’s content. This system leaves things open to mistakes or
differences in opinion. And so, a publisher may be too cautious or not cautious enough when
answering questions
about the game’s content. And on the IARC website, they say: “IARC rating
authorities monitor ratings assigned to games and apps to ensure accuracy. Corrections, if
needed, are implemented promptly by storefronts.” And so, this is always something to keep in mind
when it comes to game ratings for IARC titles. However, it is also important to keep in mind
that not all digital-only titles use IARC. Again, just how many games have their ratings
changed, even possibly sometime after the game h
as been released, is not known. And, as
this information is not publicly announced, it is something that is hard to keep track of.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and until next
time, thank you for watching. A big thanks to new Patreon member
ProtoSnake. It really is appreciated, so thank you very much. If you would
like to help support the channel, too, please check out the links in the description.
And until next time, thank you for watching.
Comments
Media rating boards are generally pretty silly
The original ttrilogy tomb raider trilogy was rated teen for T in north America why will the remaster be any different in my opinion
A PEGI 16 rating for this collection is still really pushing it. They barely even qualify for a 12 or T rating. Rating systems are way too harsh on games nowadays.
I always wondered what the IARC was about, some games on the Nintendo eShop have that rating instead of the rating system used locally. Usually for games that are digital only I’ve noticed.
Usually when a digital-only game gets a new age rating, the new age rating is higher, a recent example is Gunvolt Records: Cychronicle, originally rated E for Everyone and then rated T for Teen, the game, for example, is rated CERO B in Japan and it's a Gunvolt game, the original rating was an obvious mistake. Other examples are Nekopara Vol. 1 (originally rated T in the case of the Switch version and E in the case of the PS4 version, it was then rated M for Mature, obviously), Sakura Succubus (originally a game rated T, then M), Sixtar Gate: Startrail (originally rated E for Everyone, then rated E10+)...and more. A game that gets a lower age rating after release is something more unusual.
It's almost certain that the girl on the guy's shirt had a bikini added to get the same T rating, but things got messed up when initially dealing with IARC.
Did the Australian rating for the remake get changed?
MA15+ in Australia. Inclining strong violence. Which is weird as you hardly see any blood. But I guess seeing one guy floating in the air in 3 with a big hole in his chest, looks more graphics than in the original.
After having a peak at the questionair, I see why. Is it really that few amount of questions without detailed questionnaires asking about the context or nuances about a rating? (I.e. are there rewards for doing things non-violently, does doing substances lead to adiction or reduced stats, are swimsuits worn by characters at an appropriate location such as a pool, is the presence of gambling realistic, etc.).
These things should at best be advisory (and in reality they end up being so). They should have zero legal implications anywhere, ever.
What's the difference in the age rating?
It's not surprising that the publisher filled out the form incorrectly, considering the offensive sensitivity warning they put in the game.
1:09 That's a dumb and easily abusable system.
It's crazy to believe that Tomb Raider in the UK was once 12 rated (1st game) then 15 rated (2nd and 3rd game) America rated all three of these T for teen but now for all regions it's 18+ rated and Mature. Maybe it's the cursed retro graphics that are more offensive than the actual violence and some of the insensitve things that we just didn't know better at the time lol. To be honest here no one cares about rating systems, I never cared about them as a kid either, I just judge the game by what I see on the package and trailers/gameplay footage streaming and I think to myself "yeah this game looks fun/interesting to experience and I feel I understand what kinda crazy or not crazy stuff im getting myself into"
Rating boards need to go
Unrelated to the topic but I find it funny how in the trailer it states “Lovingly upscaled” yet they used AI to upscale the textures 👍
That's because of Lara's Deaths being quite brutal, especially the spike pits, they removed the impaled animation in tr4 and 5 because of this and barely got away with it in Legend. Just shows how times change
I'm starting to understand the reason for the change on Pierre's jacket now. As overly sensitive to the female body that people have become nowadays. They HAD to do it because someone with no life and sheer determination to find the littlest thing to complain about would see it and get them in trouble. I wish I was just exaggerating, but if that little detail made no difference, then why go out of your way to patch out that little difference? And for that matter, it now begs the question of what else was in this game that they felt they needed to censor for this board?
I guess the old game weren't as "offensive" as they thought it was
Or, and hear me out, this is because the game was resubmitted for a full review. This has happened with other digital only games when publishers like Limited Run pick them up for physical release where the games have to be resubmitted for the full review process and can earn a completely different rating whether that be higher or lower. A good example of this is that Jak & Daxter the Precursor Legacy released on the PS2 on PS4 line with the 2001 rating of E but when Limited Run partnered with Sony to release physical copies with proceeds being earned for various non-profits the game was resubmitted and given its now current rating of E10+. Edit: I'm seeing this as a physical release will be coming out very soon since Aspyr games typically got physical releases via Limited Run games or THQ Nordic given that, until very recently, they all had the same parent company.