ESRB speaks out on the process of giving Street Fighter 5 a Teen rating

Posted by John 'Velociraptor' Guerrero • January 4, 2016 at 7:52 p.m. PST • Comments: 127

According to The Angry Gamer, the ESRB has given a statement about their rating process for Street Fighter 5.

There's been quite a bit of talk about SF5's potential rating, fueled in part by Capcom's decision to censor a few risque camera angles. Speaking directly to The Angry Gamer, a representative addressed SF5 specifically.

“After receiving a final rating submission for Street Fighter V and based on the content depicted in the game and overall context, ESRB assigned a T (Teen) rating with content descriptors that include Mild Language, Suggestive Themes and Violence,” they said.

They go on to discuss some of the specifics on the basic rating process.

“ESRB provides an informal pre-review process, which is open to all developers and publishers who submit their game for a rating. ESRB does not tell developers and publishers what to put in a game, but we do provide general guidance regarding content that would most likely result in a more restrictive rating," says the rep.

"It is then up to the developer to decide how to proceed. Given the confidential nature of this process, ESRB does not elaborate or provide details about which games nor the content that may have been pre-reviewed.“

SF5's Teen rating was given back in early November, so it seems as though Capcom could have been urged to change the aforementioned camera angles after going through the process described above.

To give a bit more insight into how the ESRB goes about classifying games, we look to a Reddit AMA.

“We receive a video of the game, showing the game’s most extreme content in the appropriate context. Then raters watch the video like a movie and present their rating. If it is in line with games that have similar content, the rating is issued. If not, the higher-ups assign a different rating.”

Certain sequences that didn't make the game's final cut, such as Cammy's revealing intro angle and R. Mika's visible butt slap were likely amongst the "most extreme content" for SF5.

Sent in by David_I.