In a report submitted to the British government, ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) revealed that its rating rival, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), has downgraded the ratings of 22 adult titles last year.
"The BBFCs downgrading of games opens up the potential of unnecessary risk for UK children and teenagers when playing games against other non-UK players online," said ELSPA.
Interestingly enough, ELSPA is a private organization set up by British software publishers, while BBFC is a government organization which has been criticized repeatedly for banning games such as Carmageddon and Manhunt 2.
"Last year, of the 50 games that PEGI rated 18+ and passed to the BBFC for classification, the film rating board downgraded 22 of them - almost 50 per cent," the report added.
In their defense, BBFC stated that cultural factors must be taken into account when rating a game. "We're British, and I do think it's important even in an online game world to be able to take account of British sensibilities and we consult the public very widely when we revise out guidelines," said BBFC director David Cooke.
