Developers frustrated with ESRB cheaters
by Justin McElroy 
on Nov 18th 2009 4:30PM
Speaking at the Montreal International Game Summit, developers spoke out against the practice trying to scam the
ESRB out of a lower rating. "They say to the ESRB that it's a Teen rating rather than a Mature to try and sell more; you can do this just by sending them a video that doesn't show the most violent stuff and then you'll get the rating that you want rather than the rating you should get," said Rémi Racine, the CEO of
Wet developer A2M, according to
Edge. "Maybe getting your game out at a certain rating will help that game, but it's really not going to help the industry as a whole."
For its part, the ESRB says that it regularly checks up on games post-release, and those publishers who try to cheat their way into a lower rating could be slapped with a $1 million fine.
So, while cheaters may never prosper, when it comes to those who try and cheat the ESRB, the axiom might more accurately be "Cheaters may prosper, but only for a little while, and not even really at all in the grand scheme of things." Yeah, you're right, it lacks some punch. But you get the idea.
