What makes a video game mature?

Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, has declared that the Wii U will no longer be a home for Ubisoft’s mature games, but what does the term mature mean for games in 2014?

[ape007]

i don't care about the type, the violence level, the color level or whatever, it's the QUALITY of the game that matters the most, the theme comes second

[OldDanNew]

There's no arguing that!

[Yi-Long]

It's about the maturity behind the game. Journey is not violent, but it's about a mature subject, which is life itself.

You also have a lot of games that are rated 'mature', but they're mostly aimed at an 'immature' audience, with low-brow story and action, and shock-value violence. Nothing wrong with that, and I understand the violence that's depicted is intended for 'mature' eyes, but obviously it's over the top violent fantasies for 'boys'.

Many games offer a nice mix of both though, so they try to portray a serious deep meaningful narrative, but there's also action that's about having FUN. And when most action is about fighting and shooting, it tends to be 'violent' action, which again often finds it self falling in 'mature' ratings.

So there's a difference between being developed for a 'mature' audience (Journey, SimCity 4, Flight Simulator, whatever), and having content that's only 'suitable' for a mature audience.

Nothing 'good' or 'bad' about either of course. It's all about the quality of the game, and just like every other form of entertainment, there's greatness on all levels, so you can enjoy a Bugs Bunny cartoon one minute, and a serious documentary the next.

[IamHaru]

bubble for Yi-Long. Don't know who is disagreeing. Everything he says is absolutely spot-on.

[iamnsuperman]

Just a mature direction often with mature themes. This doesn't mean it has to have blood and gore and some dudebrah blowing a guy away with a sawn off shotgun. Mature really means a story driven game hat have grown up themes

[Roccetarius]

Personally, i believe that The Witcher games has a very mature direction, and it doesn't treat the player as a child (like most games released).

If you've played the games and read the books, then you know it's not just a simple game with nudity for the sake of it. Some of the scenes are pretty gruesome, but it's necessary to teach some a lesson.

[Perjoss]

The writing plays a big part. If you compare the writing in Fallout 3 compared to Fallout New Vegas, sometimes I feel like my character in Fallout 3 is a child because of the way characters in the game speak to me. Vegas doesn't have the most mature writing of all games but it was a huge improvement over F3.

[skydragoonity]

Scenes of explicit violence, nudity, language & gore

[kneon]

That gets you a "mature" rating, but more often than not such games are rather juvenile.

Unnecessary and excessive violence, nudity, language and drug references really only appeal to teens and those with the mentality of one.

[Tex117]

This is simple.

"Mature" games as rated by the ESRB is simply qualifying he gore, sex and language. That's it.

As for actual mature themes, few games really explore mature concepts and rarely does the actual "maturity" of the game relate to its ESRB rating.

[gamer7804]

The M rating doesn't really mean the game is Mature, it means the person must be of Mature age in order to play it.

[OldDanNew]

That's the nub.