@boopadoo: Not really. You have to figure that there actually isn't much at all changing in the 'adult' or 'mature' demographic, instead, a lot of the casual gaming boom is falling into the E category. So it's not that it's not maturing, it's that the general audience games are the ones flooding the market. Not saying that they're all a lot of crap, but you have to figure for every one or two 'stupid trying-to-be-cool mature/teen game', there's probably six to eight 'Kid's pony/horse/tree/platypus-based' titles, or five 'Generic crap movie game' title on every platform as opposed the smaller numbers in previous generations.

Ampillion lives a life much like No More Heroes.

This worries me a little bit because I'm a fan of mature content, not gore or sex, but deep thought-provoking content. It's rare to find an E or T rated game that tackles adult issues, and the squeezing out of M rated games means my demographic is becoming more niche.

It's great that the industry is growing every year, but it doesn't seem to be maturing, and these stats seem to prove that.

boopadoo

I like looking at charts.

As for why there is such an increase in the "E" games... I'm guessing it's because more and more people are starting to game now, and the gaming companies are seeing that a lot of them are adults who have families and want to play games where they could include the whole family.

Naia

They should probably do a new study on how many games rated above 9/8/7 and what those games are. (using metacritic).

Samos42

This is the same reason every movie strives for a PG-13 rating - the almighty dollar. More people will go to it, more people will buy it for their family.

This sucks too - I had to walk out of the Ring 2 because of all the stupid teenagers in there - they worked hard to get a PG-13 for that sequel and I am sure it paid off - much to the detriment of quiet adults like myself.

wild_world_girl

Thanks to the Wii.

[Wii = Family, Family = E]

Allen750

@SaintWaldo: You clearly missed the point in his post. GT is casual if you're one of those people that only consider M-rated games "hardcore". To kids these days hardcore = M-rated. Doesn't matter how the gameplay is, if its not M-rated its kiddy/casual shit.

Leanid

I find this rather amusing. But what I'd really like to see is a comparison chart for every major motion picture that came out that year, too. Just put 'em side by side, y'know?

Dirty Mongrel

That is because a game that would have been rated AO back in the 90's is now rated EC.. :)

K-Squad! (Badass Edition)

in the US, The Sims 1 / 2 / Stories, all carry a T rating.
here in Brazil, The Sims 1 / 2 carry a 16 rating (one of the expansions for The Sims 1 even had an 18 rating), and The Sims Stories series is a 12.

BTW, here is a comparison of ESRB ratings with their Brazilian equivalents:
EC = ER
E = L
E10+ = 10
T = 12, 14
M = 16, 18
AO = 18

Viakenny

@SaintWaldo: You sarcasm-radar is broken. :3

Lyner

Casual gaming MADE video games: Pac-Man, Tetris, and all those games from the 80's that eat up those quarters: all casual games. It's not a trend, but rather it's been there all along anyway. We lost sight of it at some point and are now just realizing that we did. >.>

And "hardcore" lost meaning to me. Most people just say M titles nowadays, which is completely different from our time, which was to play weird and wacky japanese games nobody ever heard of. Mother 1, anyone? :3

Lyner

@slacker164: Excuse me, but Gran Tourismo is not a casual game. Anything you can use to train for a RL race on Infineon is clearly not casual.

SaintWaldo

I blame those guys who rates the games.

Omnidum

It's all those damn casual games like Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, Portal, World of Warcraft, Kingdom Hearts, etc. with their E and T ratings. Stupid kiddie stuff... right?

Seriously, M games are mostly FPS games, many of which suck ass. We're not losing anything here. There are tons of E or T rated "hardcore" games. This doesn't suggest a decrease in quality M rated titles either. It could just as likely be a decrease in shitty games that attempt to sell more copies by adding in extra blood and guts.

slacker164

@crapsh00t: Same thing with Wii-Play. That is listed on the software charts also when it should be under assesories.

Mr. SiThNiNjA

Why do people keep bringing up censorship? I'm willing to bet none or almost none of these games were "censored". I doubt Zack and Wicki was originally full of tits and blood,and I doubt Super Mario Galaxy was ever going to have a Gangsta Rap soundtrack.

Also,Black Christmas is the best movie ever made. It was rated R because it's for mature adults.

kidnicky

I fail to see how this is bad news. As others have said, M != "good game" and E != "bad game". Until I actually start running out of enjoyable games to play, I refuse to panic about the Wii "destroying gaming."

Even in this year of M games being down, there's been a run of top notch, well selling games (Mass Effect, BioShock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4) that have all been rated M. It's a no brainer that there are going to continue to be developers who want success in that vein, rather than trying to compete in the casual market.

Expanding the player base and increasing the amount of the populace who see gaming as a normal and legitimate form of entertainment will only be good for the industry. It's a lot harder to hate monger on something a majority of your populace enjoys than it is with a minority activity.

Sabrel

Why do we have to do just one or the other? Stupid study...

axiomatic

@FallenAzrael: What is this jibberish coming out of your mouth?

Ampillion lives a life much like No More Heroes.

I'm confounded by the people that seem to think Nintedo is being attacked.
Fact: Nintendo is marketing games to kids. I'm sorry, I wish it wasn't true. However, if you deny it, that's all you are doing.
Kids can't buy games rated mature.
Therefore, the games in demand are rated Everyone. Nintendo's success with the Wii has forced developers into a corner.
I've been saying this since the Wii came out. Things like "Don't buy a Wii! It will kill gaming as we know it!"
Looks like I was right.
Damn it D:

FallenAzrael

It's a Mass Effect.

S2000

Every Wii sold comes with a copy of Wii Sports. Industry analysts count every copy of Wii Sports sold with the Wii as an individual sale of the game. Wii Sports is rated E.

That is all.

crapsh00t

Id like to see the statistics if you dont include all the crappy budget titles that no one buys anyway. I work in a game store and there are very few M games in the store compared to the number of E's but a lot of the E's are games that no one ever buys cause they are just low quality games.

danno84a

@Darth_Tigris
"It's like all of the sudden they didn't have enough quality titles last year to play."

True true true. If it means fewer titles but as high quality as last year, who are we to worry?!

Mind you, aren't Rock Band and Guitar Hero E for Everyone?

kwan

While what is stated in this report is true, the reality reflects something a bit different: more high profile, AAA titles were Mature titles this year. That being the case, they sell more, are advertised more and desired more. If anything, that is reason why M rated games are getting such negative media attention.

I find it quite strange how people are complaining about this report, though. Its like all of the sudden they didn't have enough quality titles last year to play. This report changes nothing. Its just an interesting footnote.

Nothing to get worked up about here, folks.

DARTH_TIGRIS

@JetPogi: You've played a Halo DM, right? I'd argue that we already have to deal with too many of them now.

JustThisGuy

If you count every single game ever published (as you should) then mature games were always out numbers as there has always been tons of rubbish games published for kids on the PC.

Nintendo haters should get their facts straight.

chiefpoopingpants

you guys should be glad that most of those E buyers are kids otherwise we'd have to put up with a lot of them if they move to Mature games.

JetPogi

One thing to consider is that due to Vista many of the downloadable PC casual games now go through the ESRB process, something they never did before.

thunderpetal

I found a few answers to some of the questions people have been asking:

In 2005 the ESRB rated 1133 games and in 2006 they rated 1285. Therefore by their percentages, there were 136 M rated games in 2005, 103 in 2006, and 94 in 2007. Also, in 2005 when M rated games made up 12% of the games rated they accounted for 15% of the sales. In 2006 M rated games made up 8% of games rated and still made up 15% of sales. It appears that the fastest growing rating as far as sales is the tricky little E 10+, which accounted for 4% of sales in 2005 but grew to 11% in 2006.

KidU

@JustThisGuy: You get used to it after a while. Me, I don't get upset over the minigames or "casual" games or whatever. I've been gaming a long, long time, and I've seen many trends come and go. I imagine I'll see many more trends and fads come and go before my eyes and hands stop working.

RawSteelUT

"Blame the Wii" should probably be read as "Wii is the cause".

In any case, I disagree with that statement. Wii's success is merely a symptom of the larger trend towards casual gaming in general. A trend triggered by the vast amounts of money to be made in non-M-Rated games.

Did Wii begin the casual market? Heck no. There was bejeweled, the Sims, GeometryWars, and Luminess and countless other E-For-Everyone games beforehand.

It is possible that M-Rated games do not necessarily lend to big sales. I also believe that, in general, M-Rated games are probably significantly more difficult to produce with good quality, and good sales!

kwan

@KidU: That's part of the point. They're not saying how many titles, they're just saying percentages. There are more games being made in general nowadays, so it would stand to reason that more E games would be a result.

RawSteelUT

Hey, how about a Frankenview comparing the percentages of movie ratings?

Compare:
E to G
10+ to PG
T to PG13
M to R
AO to NC17

I'd love to see it.

Murph1908

Just to throw a monkey wrench into the whole mix; What exactly makes a game "hardcore" vs. "casual". Is it the M rating? Some kind of quality difference? Really, what's at stake by saying that Nintendo killed hardcore gaming? Are hardcore games that which a person can't just pick up and play and then put down again?

(addendum: I consider myself a hardcore gamer, I'm just wondering how you people define the term.)

Omega87

As long as M doesn't disappear I'll be happy. Plenty of good E, plenty of crappy Es; plenty of Good Ms, plenty of Crappy Ms.

Vecha

OK, obvious question time:

How many games did the ESRB rate in 2005 and 2006? And how inflated are these numbers due to VC, XBLA, and PSN "games"?

KidU

Because a game's rating is in direct proportion to it's quality, right? Doesn't it kind of make sense that E is the most common rating? If M is truly 'hardcore' then it can't really be the majority anyway because 'hardcore' is a small group within a larger group of gamers. (I really hope what I just typed made sense because I'm only about 70% sure it did to me.)

metadae

@RawSteelUT: And again, the most cogent response in this thread is buried in noise, and no one notices.

Like the man said: M rated games have always been in the minority. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that, title for title, more M-rated games are being produced now than during any other period in VG history. Don't worry kids, your precious gore fests will be continually produced for the foreseeable future.

Christ on a stick, M (or R, or Parental Advisory Warnings) do not necessarily equate to "quality". I thought we all knew that.

JustThisGuy

@Youlikeyams: Hey guys you want to play every single movie ever made in the history of mankind in video game form? Buy a Wii!

Blackjack1353

I'd like to see those numbers set next to sales numbers. I wouldn't be surprised to see the chart flipped the other way.

Dragonglove

Now let's see what percentage M rated games take in the big blockbuster titles.

fragdurarsh

Blame the Wii.

Youlikeyams

I'm not surprised. But I think they will make a come back :)

It doesn't help that some adult only games get banned and suck in general. I blame ehm... Atari! You didn't see that coming did you?

Irenicus-the one and only

if the amount of GREAT games was proportional to those satistics, we would see a heck of a lot more amazing rated E games. *sigh*, if only....

Crawl to China

I still think mature games have been on the decline despite the other factors involved, and those that have be released have often been poor games. I couldn't care less about the Manhunt games which are all gore and shock factor for little benefit. I haven't played Mass Effect, but from what I've seen it's a step in the right direction. Really what seems most annoying to me the excessive censorship of a good game where the mature content would otherwise happily be at home. Removal of all visible blood and slight nudity is just stupid and those calling for such measures need to grow up.

MattB

I don't see how anyone can be held to 'blame' for something that isn't exactly negative. So before all you repressed sadists start lamenting that there isn't loads of 'cool' blood and death in games take a chill pill. Not saying that everyone who plays violent games is a repressed sadist, but the vocal minority who insecurely and ignorantly complain about this come across that way.

This report is a positive statement and a cold hard statistic, that counteracts any assumption that all games are violent.

Anyway, there has surely been an increase in the volume of games that are released annually, so lets say the number of games released increases but the number of mature titles stays the same. This obviously leads to a decrease in the total percentage that the mature titles account for in the whole market. Basic maths.

Also to those who say the wii and ds have a lot to answer for, the wii was released at the end of 2006 and the DS gravytrain only began gaining momentum back then, so how do you geniuses account for the huge drop of mature titles in 2006?

new_pornographer

@King Seafoam: any more mature games- and we'll be raising a new generation of perverts and nerds

Dont worry. All the japanophiles asking for hentai versions of their favorite japanese game have been filling in that spot. In fact, that is worse than have a mature game.

NoBullet

@your_can: I feel compelled to remind you that you once had grubby-little fingers, and that one day, you might actually want to produce a full set of grubby little fingers of your very own. Justice would have you forced to read what the childless say about you and your spawn then.

SaintWaldo

@Stormrider: QFT. Next people will try to tell me Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends isn't a good show.

Torgen thinks AAA means "Costs $60"

Can we put that pie chart next to another (delicious) pie chart that shows sales by each category? I'm interested in seeing what percentage of the actual money that 60% ends up taking home.

SaintWaldo

I'd say 80% of the games I own are rated M for Mature. 19% are T for Teen and 1% would be E for Everyone. And I've still had plenty of games to play over the past couple years. Still, I hope this trend doesn't continue or it will get to the point where a lack of M rated games becomes apparent and annoying for those of us who prefer adult themes to brightly colored cartoon characters.

Sloopydrew

@RonJeremy4Pres: You are right the number of M rated games is down but the quality is all that matters.

BTW: Is that a pic of Ron Jeremy dressed as Mario??? You are my hero!

Mr. SiThNiNjA

This stat surprises me...because there is no drought of quality M rated titles.

RonJeremy4Pres

@Ethereal006: Definate yes to more Mass Effect, definate NO to more Manhunt 2. They could have not changed a thing and released it the way they intended it and it still would have flopped. All the blood and guts in the world does not make a game playable. The bottom line is that it is just a bad game that never should have been made in the first place. There is no artisic intergrity involved with that franchise, just horrible game play and shock value.

Mr. SiThNiNjA

And only 6% of games are good... not true i know. But you get my point, most of the games i prefer are mature.

For_the_lulz

I guess it's Nintendo's fault since they made two gaming systems?
Or maybe everyone should shut their mouths until we see a decline in the quality of adult games, or the quantity since last year was one of the best years in memory for adult games.

Tiger-Fever

@PGGB: Eh is not exclusive to Canadians...[en.wikipedia.org]

Most Wanted

@Futuresex: You forgot the lawyers and politicians.

smitty1123

@Heyyou27: But...but... Mario Galaxy had that awesome multiplayer "point at the screen" mode!

dowingba

@Mr. SiThNiNjA: I blame media outlets like Fox News who will burn game designers at the stake for making games that are adult in nature and claim that they are marketing to children. Mass Effect anyone... I for one want to see more games like Mass Effect or games that aren't afraid to push the envelope. Manhunt 2 got castrated to get on US shelves. I say they should have just sold the game themselves and kept it the way it was, even if that meant they were gonna lose money, at least they kept their integrity as artists

Ethereal006

Guys, think of it this way. This data just helps show that parents who bitch about kids being violent due to videogames are completely at fault. They've got more non-violent, non-sexual games to choose from than you can shake a bloody dismembered hooker at.
Of course, the question has to be asked; why don't they buy these games? They don't do the research they should be doing into the activities that interest their kids until it's too late. Whiney McCandykid points at FRAGSEXFEST 4000 with his fat grubby little fingers, and to shut him up before he starts screaming, they get it for him. Then, when Whiney starts trying to decapitate and hump the family pet, they get bitchy.

Point is, there's no excuse you damn irresponsible pricks.

your_can

@ScratchFury:

Yeah, no AO rated games. They just don't sell and I believe each console company has a policy against them

ssjmichael

@PGGB: can you tell i'm canadian...

PGGB

guess you could call this the 'manhunt effect' eh?

PGGB

Does this mean that AO games got 0%?

ScratchFury

I wouldn't say it's gone down that much.

There's just more 3+'s swarming the market.

But yeah

Nintendo, blame, casuals etc.

Ryumeka

@EnigmaNemesis:

The former isn't a bad thing, just means there is more games that are shoveled most average gamers don't care for ... the latter gets scary, since they are having censorship in gaming, where there is more obscene material in a PG-13 movie.

EnigmaNemesis

This has always been the case. Though Es are more common now because of all the minigame collections, M-rated titles have always been a tiny minority, with most titles rated in between E and M.

The problem with this stat, however, is that it ignores the fact that, other than Nintendo first-party and sports, M-rated games tend to be the huge sellers.

RawSteelUT

This data is a bit misleading; just because there were more unique E rated games doesn't mean they sold well at all. Halo 3 has sold an estimated 7.13 million copies and Call of Duty 4 an estimated 6.76 million copies on the PS3 and 360, but it's rated Mature. Both of these games have outsold Super Mario Galaxy, even though it received higher ratings and was rated E. Of course, it's not like the game sold poorly at 5.54 million copies, but being on the most popular platform with the highest scores, and the most accessible game rating hasn't caused it to outsell it's more violent competition. Then again, there is the multiplayer aspect which could be a deciding factor as well...

Heyyou27

I blame Nintendo, and Industry bullying from government officials and the like.

EnigmaNemesis

General Custers Last Stand was the original hardcore game.

notalkjustrock

I give Nintendo credit for taking flash games, forcing your to do aerobics to play them and making a ton of cash doing it.

mtheumer

Censorship kills gaming.
Game-making is ART (believe it or not vintage and/or retards).
Thus censoring a game is pretty much the same like censoring a movie, or any form of art.
And that kills the art. Any art. Because you limit the creator's imagination, etc.

yoshinatsu

Hmm, I guess Nintendo can take most of the blame. But before you start bashing them did you know scientific research provesthat the amount of casual games released is inversely proportional to how dorky you are perceived by others. More Brain Age clones = we (gamers) seems cooler than before. Yeah. The study was done by...uh...Harvard grads....

Ha, jk, I just made that crap up. But it kinda makes sense if you think about it. Since the DS, Wii, Rock Band and Guitar Hero hit it's been so much easier to be a hardcore gamer in public.

If any of you guys are in college like me, throw a Rock Band party. Add in women and drinks and you'll be unlocking Victoria's Secret achievements. *nudge nudge wink wink*

Or at least it worked for me.

CHU BOI

@cowondinosaur: As you said, impossible. But so, so true that we need those stats instead.

Statistics lie, they lie so horribly. I'd guess 30-40% of those rated E games didn't break 100k lifetime. Of course, my numbers are based on nothing but the fact that some of these games are horribly marketed knockoffs of good titles, but I'm still confident in them.

Point in case, GTA IV will sell more than Barbie's Magical Horse Adventure. But there's probably 50 of said Barbie titles or titles fairly similar.

Setzer IIDX

@StrangeLove: The first half of every year I live in a mindset of the previous year. The other half is waiting for the next...

Back to topic: I think that the numbers will bolt up once every gets tired of casual gaming and up's to hardcore. Maybe.

MasterOfPastures

Save that pie chart for the next time JT goes on one off his "I am off my meds" tyraids about how the industry is only out to corrupt and warp young minds.

Mr. SiThNiNjA

Nintendo didn't kill hardcore gaming, because relatively speaking a rise in casual gaming shouldn't necessarily bring forth a decline in hardcore gaming. Hardcore gaming has declined, though, but for different reasons.

First, note that this decline started (or at least increased) around the start of this console generation. While the Wii's influence has been blamed for casual market growth, it's more the fault of the inverse- the fact that it's really a lot more difficult to develop complex games for the 360 or PS3 than the Wii. You need money, time, and people resources that small game companies don't always have.

Now, as to the increase of casual games on the Wii instead of hardcore games: They're cheaper and sell just as well, if not better. Economically speaking, it's so much better to develop a cheap and catchy casual title than a hardcore title, as you save the three things mentioned above- time, money, and people (who need to get paid money).

So I personally blame the money-driven game market on the decline of hardcore games. Nintendo really has little to do with it, besides having a console that happens to be easy to develop for.

TalKeaton: Totally an orange Prinny

Yeah, but what percentage of *sales* are M-rated games? Don't get me wrong, I love my violent video games as much as the next guy, this just seems like a somewhat misleading statistic.

Dukeman330

IMHO-This perception is all the fault of the publishers. M rated games get pushed a lot harder in the main stream media than E or E10 (or even Teen really). So the mainstream population only has experience with these advertisements and product pushes.

Anyhow, back to COD4....

nootau

Don't try to counter blatant lies with concrete facts. The lies always win. Its the American way. Just as Fox News.

cybereality

@brent_w:

The point isn't that there are more Mature titles. The point is there is a much much larger array of casual game titles now than there were in 2005. Just look at what the DS and Wii comprise of. Can you actually deny the amount now compared to then? If it weren't for Nintendo's success with the casual market do you think the disparity would be this large? It's pretty much a given that that's the reason.

ssjmichael

@StrangeLove:

last year, not this year, still stuck in '07, apparently.

n/a

Now how about they put that pie chart next to a chart that illustrates percentage of actual games sold, categorized by their ESRB?

It's somewhat irrelevant if there are 1000 E-rated games if each of those only sells a couple dozen copies while a lot of the M-rated games sell millions upon millions.

It'd be even more useful if we could see the actual breakdown of what's being bought and played by what demographic, but that's pretty much impossible.

cowondinosaur

Why is it necessary for hardcore games to be M?

My favorite games are K-A though... I love me some SNES :)

Emulated

E = bad game
M = good game

amirite guys?

dip

*looks at my games* Nope, still fine on M games here.

NotAZombie

@King Seafoam:

Perverts and nerds? Don't you mean misogynists and sociopaths?!

-Jack Thompson

ssjmichael

It's probably more a saturation of games for kids as opposed to less 'M'-rated games.

If I think about it, nearly every game I bought this year was 'M': Bioshock, Halo 3, Call of Juarez, STALKER, The Orange Box, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, Call of Duty 4, even The Shivering Isles for Oblivion, and the list goes on. In fact, I think the only non-'M' rated games I picked up the entire year were NBA2K8, Sim City 4 (nostalgia), and Guitar Hero 3.

n/a

@ssjmichael: Its not true, its stupid blind whining.
.
There were a hell of a lot more A+ mature games to play in 2007 than 2005.

Hardcore gaming is just fine, and Nintendo isn't hiding in your closet waiting to take all of your FPS games away ...

brent_w

6% of games but probably 60% of the revenue. M rated games are always the best sellers.

kabes

Nintendo killed Hardcore Gam...oh wait. That topic has already been covered?

Chromeo

this is how it should be'
any more mature games- and we'll be raising a new generation of perverts and nerds

King Seafoam

@brent_w: Too late, apparently.

I don't buy the assumption that M games are good and E games are bad. There are plenty of terrible bloody games, and also many great E rated games. The quality of the game is independent from the intended audience.

I am rather amused how the readers have taken a story about how the game industry isn't as violent as the mainstream press makes it out to be, and turns it around and uses it to blame Nintendo for ruining gaming again.

Stormrider

Is this not the same with films (at least here in UK)
never few 18 films these days
lotsa 15s and 12s

(UK ratings are easy to understand :D)

Fluffy22

@brent_w:

Why sigh? It's true! There's really no other explanation for it. I don't really care if the % is down because of the disproportion of E rated games, since there's still plenty of games catered to adults out there

ssjmichael

That's just percentages though. There's such a higher number of gamers now than there was in '05, and the increase is mostly due to casual software. No brainer!

Bernard McGraw

So...basically more minigames, less BOOM headshot.

Zippidydoodaa

Nintendo cornholed hardcore gaming

Chief2BeaR

@ssjmichael: At the same time, too.

HateFate

@brent_w: looks like i was 3 seconds too late ... *double sigh*

brent_w

If anyone is surprised by this, you play too much Halo

Futuresex

@Mr. SiThNiNjA:

haha we said the same thing

ssjmichael

Que the: "Nintendo killed hardcore gaming" comments in

3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

*sigh*

brent_w

I blame the massive flood of kiddie games on the DS with cheesy movie tie-ins. They tower above the rare gems of mature quality on the shelves, waiting, like a giant zerg rush desending on a protoss base.

Edmon

I think this has to do with more mini/casual games being released than less mature titles being made. Blame Nintendo's success for that I suppose.

ssjmichael

I blame Nintendo.

Mr. SiThNiNjA

@Mr. SiThNiNjA: So Guitar hero should be tracked as an accessory?

Wiiplay is a game not an accessory. Deal with it.

chiefpoopingpants

The only reason there are more E games than T is because... You guessed it... The DS and the Wii... Before the DS released, T games were king. Guess the teens have grown up... and stopped playing video games.

They'll start again once their kids start going to school.

bobtheduck

BLAMED BLAMED BLAMED OMG HOW RETARDED CAN YOU PEOPLE BE WHAT'S WITH ALL THIS "BLAMED" CRAP?

Yes, I know that was childish.

stuminus3