Historically, the AO rating has been to videogames what the "DOA" condition has been to emergency room patients: a legitimate status in the world of classification, but one that you never ever want to see applied to anything near and dear to you.
To publishers and developers the dreaded AO rating equates to the Kiss of Death for any videogame hapless enough to fall under its Dark Mark. Most mainstream vendors -- especially image-conscious retail chains such as Wal-Mart -- have strict policies against carrying AO rated games, while the big hardware makers often have codified rules against even supporting games with the AO seal.
The obvious question then is "Why have this rating at all?" It doesn't seem to do anything productive... apart from providing a line in the sand that precious few have ever been willing to officially cross. Publishers will do almost anything to avoid it -- even retooling their content significantly if that's what it takes. The prevalence but uselessness of this 'non'-rating frequently causes the game buying public to refer to the ESRB's classification system as "broken" -- in practice at least, if not in principle.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Spiders: "We're going to cut straight to the chase so you're not left wondering: After a long period without clear answers, we have received confirmation that Spiders is being liquidated.
What does it mean? This means the company as a whole no longer exists. We'll cease our functions immediately. The planned DLC will release via Nacon, and then-- well, that's it.
We're sorry that it's come to this and would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.
If you have any questions or run into issues with your games, please contact Nacon directly as we'll no longer be able to reply."
I hate the ESRB. I'm 24 and get carded for buying M rated games.
I don't see much of a difference between M and AO.
well this could be the beginning of something big i think.
if some other retailers do so, this would make some things easier. the games wouldn't have to be cut, instead they get an "AO" rating. and then all you need to do is head to gamestop.
Card people who look too young. What's the big deal? If a parent is lousy enough to buy their 11 year old kid an AO rated game that's their problem, not mine.
You'd have to have a PC to play em since none of the big three consoles will allow AO rated games on their platforms.
In the UK we have a setting of 18+ which is as high as it gets before something is banned by the censor. 18+ is AO as far as we are concerned.
Conan is 18+ for example. As was good old GTA SA. Everywhere sells them. The Censor acts as a guide and sensible parents control their offspring as best they can and all is well as far as game sales are concerned.
The PS3 has clear administrator controls so why not educate the parents on its use and leave it to them. Responsible parents will use the controls to prevent inappropriate gaming. Crap parents won't and lets face it their kids will probably go off the rails regardless of video games.
I believe the saying is "Let the buyer beware".