GC07: Lair's creator thinks ESRB game ratings system is 'bizarre'

A senior games industry executive has blasted the American ESRB games rating system, saying he thinks it is "absolutely bizarre," and calling for changes to be made to bring it in line with other mediums such as film.

Julian Eggebrecht, the president of Factor 5, drew on the example of the company's own game, the dragon-fighter Lair for the PlayStation 3, for which the company really wanted to get a T for Teen rating in the US, because teenagers make up a big part of the game's potential audience. He said, "Teenagers are really into dragons."

In order to do this, Factor 5 went through a process with the ESRB over "weeks and months," where it tweaked every bit of the game that the ESRB wanted it to in order to secure a T for Teen rating.