ESRB Combating Game Leaks

Ratings Board to Allow Pubs to Keep Titles Secret

A lot of information regarding up and coming games–mainly, what they’re called–have been revealed through a very simple method.  By looking at the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s content rating listings, many in the media and casual lookers-on could find out what’s down the pipeline.

That’s about to change.

Next Generation has received an internal memo from the ESRB that details how publishers will be able to keep their titles a secret from the public.  Among the changes will be an ability to specify a date that a game will be publicly viewable in the ESRB database.  If the space is left blank, the game will automatically be uploaded 30 days after the official ESRB rating is given.

The memo reads, in part:

Unless there are specific concerns regarding premature disclosure of a title, we expect this field to be left blank. [....] While we recognize some publishers have concerns regarding earlier-than-desired ‘announcements’ of product on our website, the ESRB system will not work for consumers if publishers arbitrarily select dates bearing no reasonable relationship to consumer interest in the product.