Skala: Age ratings and the impact of Game Content on them
Violence is less harmful then bad language, according to the data.
A friend of mine put together a heatmap showing which content categories lead to specific age ratings. I hadn’t come across this kind of breakdown before, so I’m happy to share this exclusive material. The study analyzed 1,895 games.
The pattern is clear: the less realistic the violence, the lower the age rating. There is a direct correlation.
Obscene language turns out to have a much stronger impact on the likelihood of receiving an M rating than violence or sexual themes. Only 2% of games with this type of content ended up in the T (Teen) category.
Violence, especially when stylized, very rarely ends up in the M (Mature) category. In most cases, it is classified as T (Teen).
There is a special category, AO (Adults Only). Only 27 projects from the sample fell into it. These are games with explicit pornography, real-money gambling games, and projects that are effectively banned from distribution, as partners refuse to work with them. The recent scandal around Horses (EGS flagged the game as AO, while the developers claim they received an M rating) is partly related to this issue.