PSP minis developer surprised by cost of ESRB ratings [Update]
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Oct 9th 2009 at 5:09PM } 
Content developed for the iPhone doesn't need to go through the ratings board, an oversight which, surprisingly, has yet to attract a media call-to-arms. Should the ESRB succeed in courting Apple as the defacto ratings system for the iPhone, the high cost of approval should curtail one of the largest problems facing the iPhone store today: having too much content, a sentiment shared by Minigore developer Kimmo Vihola. Vihola noted that "[Apple's] process is starting to crack from the seams," and pointed out that Sony's turnaround time on minis is much faster than Apple's store. Sony takes three to five days for approval, while Apple varies "from a couple of days to up to six weeks."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Heavytoka @ Oct 9th 2009 5:13PM
That's a lot just to rate a game
Wewtaco @ Oct 10th 2009 12:32AM
I would do it for half that.
Jose [Steam & PSN: Assmar] @ Oct 9th 2009 5:14PM
Great story guys, sincerely. There's one thing I didn't understand. Did Lardass have to pay to get in the contest?
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 9th 2009 5:19PM
Wtf?
j.howlett @ Oct 9th 2009 5:44PM
vern?
Deadpool @ Oct 9th 2009 5:48PM
I WAS FROZEN TODAY! o_o
Kilau @ Oct 9th 2009 5:53PM
IT'S AFTERBURNER!!
Jose [Steam & PSN: Assmar] @ Oct 9th 2009 5:57PM
At least J howlet got it.
mark @ Oct 9th 2009 8:57PM
you kids wanna see a dead body?
pat_boy2008 @ Oct 9th 2009 5:18PM
That explains a lot.
Dummy00001 @ Oct 9th 2009 6:04PM
It doesn't explain a dick.
Why they disallow sales of unrated-games? e.g. limiting them to only adults?
Sly @ Oct 9th 2009 6:08PM
explain a dick? i don't wanna know.
Special Agent Steve @ Oct 9th 2009 5:19PM
Eh, that's harsh. At least it will prevent "fart apps" on the PSP.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 9th 2009 5:37PM
I think the cost of the PSP devkit prevents that...I mean any dick with access to a Mac can make iPhone games....this guy in one of my classes use to do it every time we had class
copa @ Oct 9th 2009 5:38PM
It also prevents a bunch of incredibly useful free Apps with a low development cost, like I can get on my iPod Touch.
Let's see, I have a free Pandora client, a free Twitter client, a free app for buying movie tickets off Fandango, a free application for each of the three banks I use that lets me check my accounts and credit cards.
Oh, and a free app for checking up on my Goozex queues, and a free app that locates nearby Wi-Fi hotspots. A free app that streams programming off of NPR, a free Pokedex for my son. A free app that lets me browse and purchase off Amazon, a free Facebook client.
And yes, a bunch of silly little free games. Not full game experiences like I might expect on my console. More like "snackables", if you will.
Fuck off, ESRB.
Kodros @ Oct 9th 2009 5:57PM
"A free app that lets me browse and purchase off Amazon"
Wouldn't that just be www.amazon.com?
alamos @ Oct 9th 2009 6:11PM
Copa, you're missing the point. This is the ESRB. They couldn't care less about apps. Games and apps are different.
AOClaus @ Oct 9th 2009 6:12PM
@ copa
Since when does the ESRB govern general software? The ESRB isn't going to have anything to do with your "bunch of incredibly useful free Apps with a low development cost, like [you] can get on [your] iPod Touch" because they're not games. The ESRB isn't going to rate those any more than it's going to rate MS Word, WinZip, or TeamSpeak.
Platinum_Skeet @ Oct 9th 2009 6:14PM
@Copa
We're talking about gaming apps I think general apps can be made on PSP without even hitting the ESRB at all because they're not games. Those could be made on the discretion of Sony but, if they haven't been made by now in one of the largest Homebrew communities. Sony not requiring a ESRB rating won't change a thing.
Honestly the iPhone and PSP are in 2 different media devices made with 2 different primary objectives. Remember the iPhone is primarily a "phone/data" device with media capabilities. The PSP is a "gaming" platform with media capabilities. Highly likely if a Zune or a Blackberry (closest competition to iPhone different fields) then the PSP wouldn't have it.
Seriously guys what you're doing here is comparing Apples to Oranges...
Dr. Bradwart @ Oct 9th 2009 5:21PM
Twenty-five hundred dollars? Jeez! You could buy every console on the market and games for less!
waynski1457 @ Oct 9th 2009 6:09PM
Well it's not about playing the games, it's about making them.
And you gotta spend money to make money.
Dr. Bradwart @ Oct 9th 2009 6:10PM
Yes, but for these small guys that might be more than their potential profit, meaning the game never gets released.
Orchard Pear @ Oct 9th 2009 5:25PM
That sounds like solid reasoning as to why they are so much.
At the very least, you know you're getting a quality game with solid controls when you buy a mini, unlike 99.9% of iPhone games.
Phil @ Oct 9th 2009 5:49PM
The ESRB rating won't mean that it is a quality game just that the developer is serious about getting it out there.
Sure that hurdle will cut back on SOME of the crapware but remember games like 'Ninjabread Man' carried an ESRB rating too.
Martin @ Oct 9th 2009 6:18PM
Yeah, I've run across many shitty games with an ESRB rating. It has nothing to do with quality control. It's content control.
pax copia @ Oct 9th 2009 5:27PM
I am willing to rate games for a lot less than the Entertainment Software Rating Board, just saying.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 9th 2009 5:27PM
I wonder how long it's goin to take for Apple to start requiring "games" to have ESRB ratings. I mean the touch/iPhone IS a gaming platform, right?
-Sent from my iPhone-
sonicspike41 @ Oct 9th 2009 5:47PM
I don't know how well that would work since they already started without it.
If they require it for all future games that's great! I just don't know how many people are going to go back and submit their game for approval after it's already in the store. Not to mention anyone who might have made a game then stopped developing for the iPhone.
Brendan H @ Oct 9th 2009 5:48PM
Yes, they could be hoist by their own petard. They're touting the ipod touch as a gaming platform.
However, the ESRB is technically "voluntary."
From the ESRB's website:
"The rating system is voluntary, although virtually all games that are sold at retail in the U.S. and Canada are rated by the ESRB. Many retailers, including most major chains, have policies to only stock or sell games that carry an ESRB rating, and most console manufacturers will only permit games that have been rated by ESRB to be published for their platforms."
Perhaps the fact that this refers to "retail" games, not games that are exclusively downloaded, allows Apple not to have to have games get ESRB ratings (also, the games are only distributed by Apple).
If that's the case, why should Sony require their download-only games get rated by the ESRB? They shouldn't have to worry about retailers either!
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 9th 2009 5:53PM
Sony requires the ratings because a parent won't buy a game without knowing the rating...and it helps people figure out what is appropriate for an age group...I'm shocked the government hasn't made it a requirement yet...other countries do
sonicspike41 @ Oct 9th 2009 5:59PM
Sony doesn't have to worry about retailers, and they don't technically have to have ratings. It's something they choose to do. It's probably to keep in line with the rest of their gaming strategies, which includes parental controls and enforcing ratings for safety and security.
Apple probably just doesn't care about family safety and all that.
Martin @ Oct 9th 2009 6:21PM
There is zero reason for Apple to jump in and have the ESRB start rating games.
And if they did, would the ESRB feel that whatever purchasing safeguards Apple has put in place are acceptable? I can't imagine kids today have much trouble figuring out how to alter parental controls. Not that they have any trouble walking into a retailer and purchasing and M rated title either, but it's something to consider.
Same thing for Minis ... they have ratings, but how are they enforced from a purchasing standpoint?
sonicspike41 @ Oct 9th 2009 7:07PM
@Martin
Easy, don't give your kids your credit card and billing information.
Also, since they could easily use points bought at a store, set a password to lock out certain ratings.
Drake @ Oct 9th 2009 5:28PM
I believe ESRB charges $800 to rate games having a development budget under $250,000. It's still a hefty chunk of change for the average indie dev, though.
Anonymous @ Oct 10th 2009 1:05AM
Actually, $2500 is the discount price for budgets under $250,000. $4000 is the typical price. $800 is the resubmission price, or something like that.
AerialAngel @ Oct 9th 2009 5:29PM
Fuck you ERSB, you will never be good for anything but a pain in the ass.
You are whats keeping me from paying $2.49 for what the minis are SUPPOSED to be priced.
Piece of crap system..
Kodros @ Oct 9th 2009 6:07PM
ESRB not good for anything? Would you rather have the government step in and tell us what video games we can and can't buy? Sorry, but I'll be glad to pay a little bit extra then turn into a gaming clusterfuck like Australia.
Mr.ESC @ Oct 9th 2009 5:34PM
2,500$?
Wow that must be a great job ,you get paid to play videogames.I see this isn0t a big deal for some developers but they should have a minor fee for indie developers.
Courtney @ Oct 9th 2009 5:49PM
From what I've read, the ESRB doesn't even play games. Devs send in a video representative of the range of content that will be present in a game, and the ESRB assigns the rating from that. I'm guessing that size and scope of game affect the length of the video (I gotta think that something like GTA4 has like an hour video while the latest Tetris re-mix is like 30 seconds).
So it's more like $2500 for watching a really long trailer for a game.
sonicspike41 @ Oct 9th 2009 5:51PM
Last I read the ESRB shows a 3-4 hour or so video of the game. It might be shorter or longer, I don't remember exactly. Anyways, they have people watch the videos and look for certain things that might be noteworthy, like language or excessive blood.
The person who was complaining about the ESRB in this article said most of his decisions for games were overturned or that often times his "notes" on what was in the game (cartoon violence, language, sex, etc.) were changed without any warning or reasoning.
The ESRB sent the magazine a letter saying he was only there for 3-4 months and wasn't a very valued employee anyways.
It was either EGM or Game Informer I saw it in.
Mr.ESC @ Oct 9th 2009 9:42PM
That's it,that is very abusive.
Although that expalins why Halo wears the Mature rating.
Scuffles @ Oct 9th 2009 5:36PM
So do what Hollywood has been doing for a small eternity...... release things as "Unrated" and save yourselves the rating fees ....seriously why do you think you see so many unrated versions of movies coming out .... its not because whatever they changed is so earth shattering that they wouldn't be able to get rated or that their rating would be so harsh that they couldn't distribute the movie ..... its because they didn't feel like shelling out the cash to have their movie re rated, or in the case of say scoobydoo movies ..... not shelling out the cash to ever bother having them officially rated in the first place.
as I understand it the ESRB is pretty much the same as the MPAA, voluntary industry self regulation.
tho I reserve the right to be wrong
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 9th 2009 5:39PM
Sony requires all games released in the states to be rated by the ESRB tho
Space @ Oct 9th 2009 5:59PM
does tetris really need to be rated every time it comes out though? can't they just be like, "Dude, Sony, it's fuckin' tetris. Do we really need to get the ESRB involved?"
Space @ Oct 9th 2009 5:59PM
and then bam they slip in some titties at the last minute!
Dummy00001 @ Oct 9th 2009 6:07PM
> release things as "Unrated" and save yourselves the rating fees
When was last time you have seen an unrated movie???
Scuffles @ Oct 9th 2009 6:18PM
have you not been to a video store in the last like five years ?
or any place that sells DVD/Blueray ?
heck half of them that don't bother geting something re rated blatantly advertise the UNRATED edition !!!!!! all over their packages even tho little if anything has noticeably changed =P
Also realizing that to circumvent the ESRB sony would need to internally regulate.
Durden @ Oct 9th 2009 6:30PM
I think the "unrated" thing with the movies is a sales strategy. When most consumers see the UNRATED label they think "Hey! Since this is the unrated version of Jennifer's Body it must show a deleted sex scene with Megan Fox and you get to see EVERYTHING!!!"
CaramelZappa @ Oct 9th 2009 9:51PM
Nude megan fox in blu-ray of Jennifer's Body confirmed.
Nathan-DTS [He is your father] @ Oct 9th 2009 5:55PM
So it costs $2500 to pay some guys to play a game and then give it an age rating? I'm all for game ratings, but it shouldn't cost this much.