Europe's game rating agency takes aim at in-app purchases, loot boxes, and 'unrestricted communication' with new 'interactive risk categories'

Europe’s game rating agency takes aim at in-app purchases, loot boxes, and ‘unrestricted communication’ with new ‘interactive risk categories’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Gaming Industry From next week, Australia will require users to verify their age to play GTA Online and other R18+ online games Games Valve comes out swinging against New York lawsuit with rare public statement: ‘The type of deal that would satisfy the NYAG would have been bad for users and other game developers’ RPG Blizzard wants Diablo 4’s outrageous damage numbers to mean something again in Lord of Hatred, so it’s letting you crank the difficulty up to near-impossible levels: ‘It’s going to be really f*cking hard’ FPS Counter-Strike’s ‘X-ray scanner’ for loot containers is coming to Germany later this month Gaming Industry Valve facing second, class-action lawsuit over loot boxes Gaming Industry US government reportedly debating whether to force Tencent to give up its US-based game holdings Games Valve says New York Attorney General’s violent videogame fearmongering is ‘a distraction and a mischaracterization we’ve all heard before’ Games Stop Killing Games is launching NGOs in the European Union and the US: ‘We’re not just going away on this’ Games New games 2025: The year’s PC game releases Gaming Industry Videogames are ‘losing in the War for Attention’: Analyst says many of the industry’s biggest markets are spending less time on gaming Gaming Industry An AI-generated review of Resident Evil Requiem written by a fake ‘iGaming and sports betting analyst’ briefly hit Metacritic Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ matchmaking isn’t ‘binary’, says design lead: ‘There’s no such thing as a friendly lobby or an aggressive lobby’ Third Person Shooter Embark explains why it jacked up the cost of crafting Wolfpacks in Arc Raiders, concedes some players aren’t happy about it Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ contentious ‘aggression-based matchmaking’ isn’t just smart, but absolutely necessary Hardware Scientists warn against crappy age verification: ‘if implemented without careful consideration… the new regulation might cause more harm than good’ PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonArc RaidersBest PC gearQuizzes Games Europe’s game rating agency takes aim at in-app purchases, loot boxes, and ‘unrestricted communication’ with new ‘interactive risk categories’ News By Andy Chalk published 12 March 2026 New PEGI categories coming in June could see the age ratings for some games take a jump up. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter European game rating agency PEGI is about to make life more complicated for some game developers, as it plans to expand its system later this year with new “interactive risk categories” specifically targeting games with loot boxes, in-app purchases, or unmoderated in-game communications.Videogame age rating systems were initially established over fears about the presence of sex and violence in games. But much has changed over the past 30-plus years, and these days the concerns are far more insidious: It turns out that Sub-Zero ripping out someone’s spine isn’t a big deal, but letting him add M. Bison’s hat to his wardrobe for just $2.99—act now, because it’s only available until the end of March!—well, that’s a real problem.PEGI ratings currently contain notifications of some of those elements when they’re present in games, but these new categories will tie them explicitly to certain age ratings:Article continues below You may like From next week, Australia will require users to verify their age to play GTA Online and other R18+ online games Counter-Strike’s ‘X-ray scanner’ for loot containers is coming to Germany later this month The day after Epic enables microtransactions in Fortnite islands, one of the most popular games on the platform rolls out a $37 ‘gift pack’ and in-game gambling Purchases of in-game content: games with time-limited or quantity-limited offers will be classified with a PEGI 12, games with NFTs or blockchain-related mechanisms will be PEGI 18.Paid random items: the default rating will be PEGI 16 if the game contains paid random items (and in some cases they can be a PEGI 18).Play-by-appointment: mechanisms that reward returnin