A new report by the Federal Trade Commission has declared that video game vendors are the most likely to enforce mature content restrictions among movie, music, and video games.
According to the report, only 13 percent of undercover secret shoppers were able to buy Mature rated video games. In comparison, 24 percent of underage secret shoppers were able to buy tickets for R-rated movies, 30 percent were able to buy R-rated DVD's, and 47 percent were able to buy mature content CD's.
This news is hardly a surprise to most video game buyers, as many retail outlets, such as Gamestop, ask for identification if the buyer is attempting to purchase M-rated games. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (or ESRB, the people who determine the ratings for each game) president Patricia Vance had this to say to Gamespot about the results of the report:
"We applaud video game retailers for once again demonstrating our industry's ongoing commitment to parents. Enforcement of video game sales policies continues to be substantially higher than that for any other entertainment industry...This success is due in part to retail partnership programs like the ESRB Retail Council, through which we regularly conduct our own mystery shops to help retailers maintain a high level of store policy enforcement. We will continue these responsible efforts with unwavering dedication to serving parents."
The results of the study were compiled by 13 to 16 year old children without parents who attempted to buy explicit materials from retail chains across the country from April and June 2012. The last study by the FTC in 2010 revealed the same figures for video game vendors concerning selling to underage shoppers.
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