Age ratings

Overview

Age ratings are subjective classifications that are applied to XBOX games based on the game's content and functionality, as well as user-generated content.

  • Content: A game's rating would take into account whether and to what extent its content includes things like violence, drug use, coarse language, nudity, or sexual activity.
  • Functionality: This would include such things as an app or game's social features, privacy, modes of interacting with social networks, loot boxes, reward systems for user logins or other pressures to play.
  • User-generated content: Ratings may take into account the nature of content accessible through the application that has been created by other users and whether any restrictions apply to user-generated content allowed by the app or title.

Ratings are one of the tools that customers and their families can use to monitor or restrict access to content that they consider to be objectionable or inappropriate for some or all family members. Without ratings, users wouldn't be able to make informed decisions about title or application content and could potentially be exposed to content they found inappropriate, unsafe, or otherwise objectionable.

Content policies

Microsoft Store policies prohibit offensive, pornographic, illegal, and other types of inappropriate content. We recommend reviewing both our current content policies and any specific exclusions that might exist in your licensing agreement with Microsoft.

Acquire age ratings

There are 2 different means of obtaining ratings:

  • IARC (International Age Rating Coalition) covers many markets when distribution is digital-only. Participation is free at the point of use and publishers complete a questionnaire in Partner Center to generate a rating.
  • Rating certificates are required for many markets when distribution is via physical disc. This is also referred to as obtaining 'long-form' or 'traditional' ratings. For more guidance about individual ratings authorities, see Age ratings guidance for countries/regions.

About IARC

Administered by many of the world's game rating authorities, the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) provides a globally streamlined age classification process for digital games and mobile apps, helping to ensure that today's digital consumers have consistent access to established and trusted age ratings across game devices.

For more detailed information on IARC and answers to Frequently Asked Questions, please visit https://www.globalratings.com/about/. To challenge a rating decision made by the IARC system, please use the link provided within Partner Center when the IARC rating is generated.

Configure age ratings in Partner Center

The Age ratings page of the product in Partner Center lets you provide information about your product so it can receive the appropriate age and content ratings administered by the IARC rating system.

Note

Age ratings are required for all submissions to Certification. You should ensure that you have acquired all applicable ratings before you attempt to submit your game.

Access the Age ratings page and then:

  • Generate a rating by answering the questions in the IARC questionnaire provided through the Age ratings page on Partner Center, or
  • Enter an IARC rating ID that you have already obtained for the product on another platform or storefront

If your game is distributed on physical media in one or more regions, then you must first take the questionnaire and upload the ratings certificate obtained from the ratings board for each region. For instructions, see How to set age ratings.

If your product won't be distributed on physical media, you can still submit the rating you've received from the ratings board.

IARC questionnaire

You're required to take the IARC ratings questionnaire for ALL products created via Partner Center, even if an age rating is acquired directly from a rating authority. The questionnaire must be completed accurately. It must be retaken if your game content changes. Placeholder answers shouldn't be submitted. IARC ratings are valid only for digital distribution. Any games that also target physical distribution must acquire ratings directly from the relevant rating authority.

For more information about taking the IARC questionnaire, see How to set age ratings.

Changing an IARC-issued rating

If you've completed the IARC rating questionnaire and disagree with a rating value that has been issued, the rating certificate email you'll receive includes a link that you can use to contact the rating authorities.

Long-form ratings and overriding IARC questionnaire results

After completing the IARC questionnaire and generating age ratings for your product, it's possible to override the ratings with traditional or "long-form" ratings acquired directly from the various ratings authorities. These overrides must be configured and saved for any game that's distributed on disc. Any manually configured age ratings will take precedence over IARC ratings.

For instructions on how to override IARC ratings with long-form ratings, see How to set age ratings.

Long-form ratings for multiple platforms

If you're using a single product in Partner Center to support the release of your game on multiple platforms (for example, XBOX One, XBOX Series X|S and PC) and you're overriding the IARC-generated age rating, you must provide a valid age rating certificate for each supported platform. Partner Center only allows a single .pdf file to be uploaded for each age rating authority. For rating authorities where an individual certificate is issued per platform, you must combine these into a single .pdf document before you upload it.

Requirements for different product types

Pre-orders

Pre-orders for digital-only products should display IARC-generated ratings. Pre-orders for products intended for physical release must display the rating assigned via the respective rating boards certificate. If that is not yet available, then the approach varies by rating authority; for example, the ESRB require that an RP rating (at the correct tier) is used whilst PEGI allow for an IARC-generated PEGI rating to be displayed with a "Provisional" designation.

Multigeneration and multiplatform releases

When you release your game simultaneously on multiple platforms (for example, XBOX consoles and XBOX on PC) or console generations (for example, XBOX One and XBOX Series X|S), or when you add a platform or generation later, the ratings process might vary by ratings board and region. For specific questions related to handling multiple platforms/generations at launch or adding a platform, contact the appropriate age rating authority directly. The following information is for general guidance only.

  • XBOX Series X|S is considered a new platform by most ratings authorities, requiring a separate ratings classification.
    • If content is unchanged then most ratings authorities will classify a game for XBOX Series X|S via their additional platform process (fees and conditions may apply).
    • If the content of your game has materially changed then most ratings authorities will require a full submission (fees and conditions may apply).
  • Partners are responsible for ensuring all required age rating certificates are provided for review via Partner Center. Failure to provide this may delay certification or release.
  • If you have specific questions related to Microsoft tools or processes, contact your XBOX account team.

Add-ons

You have three options when you configure age ratings for add-on content, depending on your requirements.

  • Select This add-on doesn't require more restrictive ratings than its parent product if you need your add-on content to share the same age rating values as the main game product.
  • Select I'm ready to complete the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) questionnaire if you need to take the IARC questionnaire specifically for the add-on content being configured.
  • Select I have already completed the questionnaire for this app in another storefront and have an IARC rating ID if you want to import IARC questionnaire responses from another IARC questionnaire.

Bundles

Bundle age ratings are automatically defined based on the ratings for the products included in the bundle that were defined in the Bundle setup page. If you have questions about the age ratings generated for a bundle product, speak to your Microsoft contacts.

Betas/Game previews

Betas and Game Preview program titles are only available via Digital-only. Based on this, IARC should be used in supported markets. For non IARC regions, certificates would be required from regions where the content is to be released.

Demos

Digital-only regions should display IARC assigned ratings. Physical release regions must display the rating assigned via the respective rating boards certificate and if that is not yet obtained, rating pending should be selected. Any free product (including betas or demos) rated as CERO Z or IARC 18+ is not allowed to release on XBOX in Japan regardless of the distribution method.

The general principle for demos is that they should follow the rating of the main title. This means if the main game is rated as RP then so should the demo, and when a final rating is assigned to the main game the demo should then be updated to match that rating. For IARC regions, e.g. PEGI, a provisional IARC-generated PEGI rating is fine for the demo but (following the same logic) if PEGI then rate the physical release as different then the demo should be updated to match.

Game trailers

Only UNRATED trailer is required to be uploaded to Partner Center. Microsoft will add the necessary age ratings 'pre-roll' to the trailer.

Please note: this exception is only for Partner Center and only for Microsoft Store PDP; any trailer that is not destined for the Microsoft Store product page must still display embedded rating information, where required, in accordance with the appropriate rating authorities guidelines.

Any game trailer showcasing CERO Z or IARC 18+ rated gameplay is not allowed to release on XBOX in Japan regardless of the distribution method.

How age ratings are used

  • XBOX digital store: These are based on what's configured in the age ratings module in Partner Center. This could be either IARC ratings or ratings which have been manually overridden with valid age rating certificates provided.
  • Physical disc: Only age ratings you override with long-form certificates and values are used when creating a disc request. These overridden ratings are added to the disc metadata. Ratings generated from IARC aren't included as they are only usable for digital releases.
  • AppxManifest: Declaring ratings within the AppXManifest is no longer permissible. Content Updates for existing games that already have ratings declared in the AppXManifest can remain unchanged. You may remove the ratings element completely in a future update.

Console disc ratings logic

  • If the console is online, Microsoft Store ratings take priority over any ratings on a disc.
  • If the console is offline and the AppxManifest has no ratings element, the console uses the ratings from the disc, that were defined when creating the disc request.
  • If the console is offline and the AppxManifest has the ratings element, but some or all of the ratings are missing, the disc ratings are ignored and the console will treat the game as unrated in the regions with no AppxManifest ratings.
  • If the console is offline, but was previously online when the game was installed, then cached ratings from the Microsoft Store will be used (refreshed every 10 days).

Next steps

See also

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