Lootboxes Now Automatically PEGI 16, in Changes Inspired by Germany

PEGI, the Pan-European system for age classification of video games, is adding new categories to the classification criteria. From June 2026 onward, "newly submitted games will be classified with a broader set of criteria that will focus on content and functionality, such as purchases of in-game content, paid random items, communication features, and features that incentivise players to continue playing."

Here are the coming changes, cited from the press release:

• Purchases of in-game content: games with time-limited or quantity-limited offers will be classified with a PEGI 12, games with NFTs or blockchain-related mechanisms will be PEGI 18.
• Paid random items: the default rating will be PEGI 16 if the game contains paid random items (and in some cases they can be a PEGI 18).
• Play-by-appointment: mechanisms that reward returning to the game (e.g. daily quests) will get a PEGI 7. If these mechanisms punish players for not returning (e.g. by losing content or reducing progress) they will become PEGI 12.
• Safe online gameplay: if games contain entirely unrestricted communication features (e.g. no blocking or reporting), they will be PEGI 18.

“It was incredibly useful to learn from the experiences of our colleagues in Germany”, says Dirk Bosmans, Director of PEGI. “We are confident that these ambitious updates to PEGI's classification criteria will provide parents and players with more useful and transparent advice that better reflects the overall experience that players can expect from the video games they play.”

“We are happy to find ourselves once again aligned with PEGI in addressing online interaction risks as soon as these changes are coming into effect”, says Elisabeth Secker, Managing Director of USK. “For us, it has been a useful and successful change: at least one of the new USK criteria has been applied to approximately 30% of all games that were submitted since we updated our system. Around 1 in 3 of those games have been given a higher age rating as a result. The effect of the changes was visible and impactful.”

“With the updated set of age rating criteria, PEGI aims to make parents aware that certain features in games should be carefully assessed, and that parental tools can be a very helpful assistant when doing that”, says Beate Våje, chair of the PEGI Council.

“PEGI has laid a solid foundation to continue educating parents for many more years, since parents will need a stable source of information about a constantly changing environment like the video games market”, says Jeroen Jansz, chair of the PEGI Experts Group. “PEGI will continue to monitor relevant developments, and we will keep assessing the implementation of these criteria in the course of the next year, in the same way that we maintain a continuous review of the content classification categories.”