What is the process of getting my video game rated?

#1 Yeah those are issued by the ESRB, as for the process for getting rated im as lost as you are. they might have some information on their website that you could check out.

#2 Thanks got it

http://www.esrb.org/publisher/login.asp

#3 Last I heard they were damn expensive though.. and pretty much useless it seems. If you are making a PC game distributed online you shouldn't need one of these. They are more for the retail channels..

#4 Let's see what the prices are? Does anyone know ?

hey why not go the retail channel by the way if you are an indi?
What's so tough about that? Please explain.

#5 Get a publishing contract and then look at paying the price for shelf-ratings to be sold in Wal-Mart.

#6 Okay is there a place where I can download a sample publishing contract?

I'm a little confused about the statement "then look at paying the price for shelf-ratings to be sold in Wal-Mart."

Do you mean that I have to pay for shelf space at Wal-mart?

Or do you mean that I have to have certain shelf-ratings in order to be sold at Wal-mart?

Thanks

#7 Both.

Your publishing contract will depend on the distributor, your experience, your ip leverage, your ip lawyer, etc.

Shelf space costs money in stores. Often lots of money, especially since you have to negotiate for a large number of stores in a variety of markets. And publishers have negotiated the in's in the box market.

Go to Gamasutra.com and do a search on pitching to publishers. Then look at the publishing contracts here and around several other places (like here).

But have a game first, not an idea, not a simple prototype...but a game that has the potential to not only be finished but has a strong testing base as "fun".

EDIT:
Note that Wal-Mart has a point at which they will sell even things that they publicly say that they will not. Say, GTA. It was such a huge seller that they couldn't deny the money they would make. But 90% of the 'M' rated games hit the bargain bins in a month or two without enough sales to make it worth their while.

#8 I contacted them in March of 2005 and the fee was around $250 or so to have them check it out. Then I believe there was another fee to get the rights to put the logo rating on the box. I think after all was said and done, it was going to be close to $1000 dollars.

Also the game had to be complete and if you changed anything after they reviewed it, you had to repeat the process.

#9 Well they sure know how to make their bucks for a non-profit organization.

Is this logo something that retailers insist that publishers put on the box? or is it optional? ?

just curious

#10 Being non profit doesn't mean the same as doing things for free. $1000 doesn't sound too bad to me.

#11 Most chain retailers will insist. After all, it is their excuse if a 10 year old buys "Hyper-Violent Nekkid Spider Chicks from the Planet Porno."

The parents should have checked the rating.

#12 $1,000 doesn't sound non-profit to me. And when you take into account how many retail games are made a year, the ESRB is making a killing. Non-profit means you provide a service for free, and either the government, or community, or a private investor support you financially right? When you charge someone money directly in return for a service isn't that a profit?

I don't have a problem with EA or Capcom needing to pay for it but I think if a low income indie studio wanted to display an ESRB ratings logo on their box, the service should be provided for free.
-Ajari-

#13 @David..

Quote:"Hyper-Violent Nekkid Spider Chicks from the Planet Porno."

is this the title of the game you're working on? :-)

#14 Actually they've never really said to be a non profit organization, at least not that I've seen. I do agree that it should be free, but I don't see it happening. If not free, then should be something a lot cheaper.

I don't think Wal-mart will carry anything unless it had that rating for reasons such as David pointed out. I work part time at GameStop (get my one day for that nice discount) and they won't carry anything unless its rated. I don't know why, most parents don't even pay attention to the rating. Buying their 7 year old San Andreas saying "they see worse on tv." But anyways I'm not going to steer this thread away from the topic, so I won't get on my rating soapbox ;)

#15 Might be a nice little thing to put on a website for a game. If a game's been rated, maybe it'll help parents to purchase a game online from an indy.
Paying $1000 for a rating might be a bit much but might be worth it if it gets the customer parting with cash.

#16 I just think it makes your game look more credible and proves it has gone through the proper channels as an established and finished title. Even though this may not be the case in every situation, Your average consumer would feel more comfortable giving their money to a company with an ESRB rating on their product because they have more of a reason to believe the company has actually taken the time to take all the steps to ensure their product is bug free and of good quality.

Kind of like someone applying for a job with a degree and someone without one. Even though in reality the guy with his BA may not know more than the guy that taught himself, he will still get the nod 9 out of 10 times for the position if they have equal working experiance. Also people will have more respect, trust, and confidence, for the guy with the BA and assume he knows what he's doing over the self taught guy even if it's not the case. That's the way the world thinks. I hate it, but it's true.

So the lesson of this story: The ESRB ratings logo on your box makes your product look more polished and established to the average consumer, even if it isn't. (Average consumer: "I'll spend my money on this product because it's a 'real' game made by a 'real' company, and not something created in someones bedroom") I believe that's how they think anyway.
-Ajari-

#17

Quote:"Hyper-Violent Nekkid Spider Chicks from the Planet Porno."

Like these? www.flickr.com/photos/esthet/11449257/

#18

Quote:
Non-profit means you provide a service for free, and either the government, or community, or a private investor support you financially right? When you charge someone money directly in return for a service isn't that a profit?

No, not at all. That's called revenue, and profit is basically what is left over when you subtract expenses from revenue.

What makes them "non-profit" is that they always make sure their expenses (which include salary!) are == revenue.