PlayStation VR and Others Will Need Separate Rating System: Shuhei Yoshida

Sony's Shuhei Yoshida says PlayStation VR and other VR platforms will need a game rating system of their own.

President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida thinks that due to the different nature of experiences and the potential intensity of some of the titles on PlayStation VR and other similar virtual reality devices, the industry might need a rating system of their own.

When he was asked if a different rating system for the Virtual Reality genre would be needed, he added, “something like that I hope we can work on.”

Discussing the topic further, Yoshida said that it is a powerful and intense medium which is why it might need a different way to communicate with the users:

The power of the medium is so much so that, in the future, the industry will probably come up with slightly different ratings so that we can communicate to consumers what kind of contents are inside. It’s early days but it’s important, because we don’t want to handcuff the creativity of developers.

Yoshida also says that being such a powerful medium “something could potentially cause trauma to people when they try that, because they’ve played something really awful,” which is all the more reason to keep them informed in a tailored way i.e. a separate rating system for the games of PlayStation VR and other platforms.

We think it is a good idea because games that are going to be played on PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift or Vive are definitely going to be one of their kind.

Sarmad is our Senior Editor, and is also one of the more refined and cultured among us. He's 25, a finance major, and having the time of his life writing about videogames.