Every video game sold in the United States carries one of the Entertainment Software Rating Board's seven rating categories, from E for Everyone to AO for Adults Only 18+. The ESRB has set these standards since 1994, and each rating badge comes paired with content descriptors that spell out exactly why a game earned its rating.
The badge on the box or the store listing is only the headline. The real detail — the part that actually helps a family decide if a specific game is a good fit — lives in the content descriptors and interactive elements notices underneath it. Here's how the whole system fits together.
What Is the ESRB, and Why Does It Rate Games?
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is the independent, industry-funded nonprofit that has assigned age and content ratings to nearly every game sold at U.S. retail since 1994, when it launched with five rating categories and seventeen content descriptors, according to ESRB's own history page.
The system has grown since then. The original K-A (Kids to Adults) label became E for Everyone in 1998. The E10+ category, for games suitable for ages 10 and up, arrived in 2005. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association decision affirmed video games as protected speech while also validating the ESRB's self-regulatory rating model, per ESRB's history page. The board marked its 30th anniversary in 2024, and ESRB reports that 65% of the ratings assigned to physical and console-downloadable games that year were E or E10+.
What Do the Rating Categories Actually Mean?
Each category describes a general age range and the type of content a family should expect. ESRB's ratings guide defines all seven this way:
| Rating | Age Guideline | What ESRB Says It Means |
|---|---|---|
| E (Everyone) | All ages | "May contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language." |
| E10+ (Everyone 10+) | Ages 10 and up | "May contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes." |
| T (Teen) | Ages 13 and up | "May contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong language." |
| M (Mature 17+) | Ages 17 and up | "May contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language." |
| AO (Adults Only 18+) | Ages 18 and up | "May include prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content and/or gambling with real currency." |
| RP (Rating Pending) | N/A | Appears on promotional material for a physical game still awaiting a final rating. |
| RP-LM17 (Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+) | N/A | Signals an unreleased physical game is expected to receive a Mature rating. |
Those category descriptions are a starting point, not the full picture. Two games can both carry a T rating for very different reasons — which is exactly what content descriptors are for.
What Are Content Descriptors, and Why Do They Matter More Than the Letter Grade?
ESRB uses more than 30 content descriptors, grouped into categories including Substances, Blood/Gore, Humor, Violence, Gambling, Language, Nudity, and Sexuality, according to ESRB's ratings guide. These are the short phrases printed beneath the rating badge — things like "Mild Language" or "Fantasy Violence" — and they explain the specific content that triggered the category assigned to that particular game.
A quick family habit worth building: before checking the letter grade, check the descriptors underneath it. A T-rated game flagged for "Crude Humor" plays very differently at family game night than a T-rated game flagged for "Violence" and "Blood." The letter narrows the range; the descriptors tell you which part of that range you're actually in.
What Are "Interactive Elements," and Why Should Parents Check Them Separately?
Introduced in 2013, Interactive Elements are a separate set of notices that don't change a game's age rating but flag online features worth knowing about in advance. ESRB's history page confirms 2013 as the year this third part of the rating system was added, alongside the original two: rating categories and content descriptors.
Parent note: these notices commonly cover user-to-user interaction (open chat or voice with other players), location sharing between players, in-game purchases, and unrestricted internet access. None of that shows up in the age-range badge itself, so a game rated E can still include real-time chat with strangers — which is exactly the kind of detail worth a five-second check before handing over a headset.
How Do ESRB Ratings Compare to Movie Ratings?
Families used to reading MPA movie ratings will find the ESRB system familiar in spirit but not identical in practice. As CBS News has reported, the video game and film ratings systems are "very similar," and the major ESRB categories roughly correspond to MPA film ratings — but CBS News is careful to note it is "not an exact one-to-one match."
In practice, that means a helpful shortcut — T is somewhere in PG-13 territory, M leans toward R — but not a substitute for actually reading the content descriptors on the specific game in front of you.
How Can Parents Set Up Console-Level Parental Controls?
Every major gaming device includes built-in parental controls, and ESRB's own parental-tools page describes what they can do: "block games and apps by rating, set time limits, manage in-game purchases, restrict access to the internet, and more." ESRB frames these settings as a way to enforce house rules — limiting play time, blocking titles above a chosen rating, or capping in-game spending — even when a parent isn't in the room.
Because those controls live on the device rather than in the game itself, they apply across every title a household plays, which makes them a faster fix than checking descriptors game by game once the rules are set.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a T-for-Teen game automatically off-limits for a 10-year-old?
Not automatically. T means content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up, per ESRB, but the specific content descriptors listed with that game explain exactly what earned it the rating — checking those helps a family decide if a particular title fits their own child.
Do content descriptors ever change a game's letter rating?
No. Content descriptors don't move a game into a different category; they explain what specific content — violence, language, suggestive themes, and more — is present within the rating ESRB already assigned, giving families more detail than the letter grade alone.
What do Interactive Elements notices cover that the rating badge doesn't?
Added in 2013, these notices flag online features like user-to-user chat, location sharing, in-game purchases, and unrestricted internet access. They don't affect the age rating itself, but they alert families to features worth reviewing before a child plays online.
Can a family block in-game purchases without blocking an entire game?
Yes. ESRB's parental-tools guidance says built-in controls on gaming devices can manage in-game spending specifically, separate from options that block titles by rating category or limit total daily play time.
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