The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has revoked its formerly given T for teen rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and now says the game should be rated M for Mature.
The ESRB gave two reasons for the change in rating. First, it said the level of violence in the game was higher than it originally thought. Secondly, programmers with the PC version of the game hacked into art files and released a mod that allows for topless women within the game.
New stickers will be issued immediately with the new rating and retail stores have been advised to check for ID when someone wants to purchase the game. About 1.7 million copies have already been sold with the Teen rating.
Publisher Bethesda Software said it would comply with the new ratings, but stressed that the change is not their fault. In a statement it said that everything about the game was disclosed to the ESRB including the high level of violence within the title. As for the topless women, this mod was created by third party programmers and was not originally put into the game.
Their exact statement follows:
"Bethesda Softworks made what it believes was a full, accurate, and comprehensive submission on Oblivion to the ESRB months before the game’s release. Bethesda used the ESRB’s application forms and believes it adhered closely to their requirements. Nothing was hidden from the ratings agency. No effort was made by Bethesda to lobby or influence the agency for any particular rating.
The ESRB has concluded that the game deserves a rating of Mature because: 1) partial nudity in the PC version of the game can be created by modders; and 2) the game contains excessive blood and gore that go beyond a Teen rating. The facts are as follows:
There is no nudity in Oblivion without a third party modification. In the PC version of the game only – this doesn’t apply to the Xbox 360 version – some modders have used a third party tool to hack into and modify an art archive file to make it possible to create a mesh for a partially nude (topless) female that they add into the game. Bethesda didn’t create a game with nudity and does not intend that nudity appear in Oblivion. There is no nude female character in a section of the game that can be "unlocked." Bethesda can not control tampering with Oblivion by third parties.
Bethesda is taking steps to ensure that modders can not continue to hack into Oblivion’s art archives to create partially nude figures.
With regard to violence, Bethesda advised the ESRB during the ratings process that violence and blood effects were "frequent" in the game – checking the box on the form that is the maximum warning. We further advised that the game contained occasional torture, vulgar acts, and gore. We gave accurate answers and descriptions about the type and frequency of violence that appears in the game. We submitted a 60-page document listing the explicit language, acts, and scenes in the game. Oblivion packaging already contains warnings for "Violence" and "Blood and Gore."
We value the role of the ESRB and believe the rating agency plays a valuable role in regulating our industry. As always, we will continue work in good faith to comply fully with the ESRB’s standards and policies.
We remain enormously proud of Oblivion and the standard of excellence in game development it represents. Oblivion is one of the highest rated games of all time and one of the most popular games available on the Xbox 360 and the PC. We greatly appreciate the understanding and support of our fans."
Hal Halpin, president of IEMA, a trade group that represents retailers had the following to say in a statement about the ratings change.
"The pace at which the IEMA retailers reacted to the change in the ESRB rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion today stands as testament to the effectiveness and commitment to the industry’s self-regulatory efforts. As evidenced by the most recent FTC study, the nation’s leading retailers now require identification for the purchase of Mature-rated games at approximately the same rate as the movie theatres do for R-rated film admission.
When we were notified of the game’s ratings change today, we alerted our member company representatives who communicated to their stores the change in the game’s rating. The effective change in sales policy was immediate. In fact, several major retailers changed the cash register prompt tied to the bar code of the game (a technology which prompts cashiers to ask for ID). Of note in this matter is the speed at which retailers reacted and parents were empowered — ultimately that is what makes any ratings system effective in the end."