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Australian ratings board looks ahead to App Store crackdown

by Michael Rose Aug 19th 2010 at 3:00PM

It's not a done deal by any means, but the Australian government's Classification Board is taking a hard look at games for mobile devices, which up until now have skated by the country's regulatory requirements that mandate a pass for content and age-appropriateness -- at a cost to developers of hundreds or thousands of A$. By November, we should know for sure whether or not App Store developers will have to choose between paying to have their games rated or pulling them out of the Australian market.

This issue came up as long ago as October of last year, in response to the infamous BabyShaker app. Aussie devs Lloyd Kranzky and Nick Lowe have weighed in on their blogs, and raise some good points: although it's not necessarily a level playing field between the iDevices and other phones, and the console and PC games (which have been complying with the classification rules, in some cases leading to indie or casual/free games avoiding the Australian market), it's also not completely fair to lump mobile games in with the big boys when Flash games and other online content are completely free and clear of regulatory burden.

Another stat of note: back in 2007/08, the board reportedly classified under 1,000 video games -- a pittance compared to the thousands of games streaming out of the App Store and Android Market. It's unclear whether the regulatory infrastructure is even prepared to deal with the new order.

Here's a question for Mac, PC and console game developers: do Australian rules affect your decision-making when it comes to game releases, vs. the US industry-driven ESRB ratings system? Pipe up in the comments.

Thanks to Jarrod for sending this in.

[hat tip to Kotaku]



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It's not a done deal by any means, but the Australian government's Classification Board is taking a hard look at games for mobile devices,...
 

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14 Comments

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Shane

And this is why religion and politics don't belong together.

All this is going to do is increase the amount of piracy that occurs, way to go boys and girls...

August 19 2010 at 10:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
reticulate

You must have us confused with a country where all of the above actually happens.

Protip: Proposed legislation is not the same thing as enacted law.

August 19 2010 at 6:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SV

Monitor citizens and censor the Internet? Where the hell are you getting your facts from?

Neither occur in Australia. All the crap you've read in the media has been nothing short of sensationalism. None of the policies have been put in place. The Internet is as open in Australia as it is in the US.

August 19 2010 at 4:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nuts

As an Aussie, this is just going to make me pirate games. I couldn't live without new games on my iPhone and if jailbreaking and stealing them is the only way to play them then so be it. (I have no problem paying for them btw)

August 19 2010 at 3:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Nuts's comment
Jamie

You'd die without video games?

If they're that important to you, why not do something about it, like petitioning your government or starting an organization, instead of stealing from innocent parties who have nothing to do with your government's draconian policies.

Schmuck.

August 19 2010 at 3:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David Wertheimer

Australia dumbfounds me. They have one of the strictest censorship policies concerning media, games and the web, yet most Aussies I've encountered abroad tend to be very rude, obnoxious, violent, and heavy drinkers. Additionally, Aussie men are rated the world's worst husbands and have more than a slight racist streak (a number of Indian and South Asian friends were frequently called "s***heads" when they visited).

If the desired outcome of Australia's polices are to make their citizens better people, they're clearly failing. If I want to hang around people with a sexy accent but who are also very kind and considerate, I'd rather go to New Zealand.

August 19 2010 at 3:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
6 replies to David Wertheimer's comment
samsonsu

someone presented this as a new business model for australia ratings board...

August 19 2010 at 3:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave Wood

Most indie devs will just pull their games from Australia. At least until they've generated a lot of revenue in other markets. Then it might be worth paying the fee to get into the Australia market. But at $0.99 a game, I doubt it's worth the cost. You'd have to sell a lot of games to cover that extra fee.

August 19 2010 at 3:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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