Matt Martin
09:49 (BST)
07/07/2008
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Cooke questions PEGI structure
The British Board of Film Classification's spat with the European games publishing community continues, with the BBFCs David Cooke questioning the transparency and structure of PEGI.
"The trouble is that it is not clear who PEGI is," said Cooke, speaking to the Times.
"Administration is handled by the Dutch film regulator, who subcontracts to a couple of blokes [the Video Standards Council] in Borehamwood."
Last week Cooke hit out at execs at Electronic Arts and Microsoft who have questioned the ability of the BBFC to rate games following recommendations from the Byron Review.
EA's UK general manager Keith Ramsdale suggested that new ratings plans by the BBFC could delay games in the region, but Cooke thinks Ramsdale's suggestion is misleading.
"I think that is a red herring; Germany and the US have their own systems," said Cooke.
"Look at what happens in film - there are different cultural sensititives in each country. The French give Tarantino films 12 certificates; I'd be out of a job tomorrow if I did that. But the point is that there is no reason why those cultural differences go to sleep when it comes to games."
He also added that due to BBFC becoming more adept at rating games, there's a chance that the current fee of GBP 300 for classifying a game may drop in the future - "if anything, that is coming down," he said of the costs to publishers.
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