Europe’s age-rating body PEGI is now raising existing games with loot boxes to PEGI 16, and the new labels are showing up on store pages this week. PEGI’s announcement covers digital-only games currently rated PEGI 3, 7 or 12 that sell “paid random items”. Marvel Rivals, Fire Emblem Heroes and Zenless Zone Zero are among the first big games to move up.
PEGI announced the update on October 6. The Games Rating Authority (GRA), which runs PEGI in the UK, says it started in the week of October 12 and will continue “progressively throughout October”. Eurogamer and PocketGamer.biz reported the first re-ratings on October 20.
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What PEGI’s new loot box rule says
According to PEGI, digital-only games “that are currently rated PEGI 3, 7 or 12 and feature Paid random items, such as loot boxes, will have their age rating updated to PEGI 16”. They also get the new “Paid random items” descriptor. The change applies on every storefront that uses PEGI ratings and will “take some time to complete”.
PEGI director Dirk Bosmans explained the reason: “Online games can remain available and updated for a very long period of time. To avoid that our age ratings over time become inconsistent, we decided to perform this update. This update ensures that when older games remain popular into the future, they reflect PEGI’s current age rating standards.”
GRA policy manager Connor Hinde said in a LinkedIn post on October 16 that it covers games rated through both PEGI Classic and the IARC system used by digital storefronts, adding: “We recognise that a high volume of rating changes will take place over a relatively short period.”
Which games have been re-rated to PEGI 16?
We checked these listings on October 20 (UTC). The previous ratings come from the reports cited.
| Game | Before | Now | Where we checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Rivals | PEGI 12 (Inven Global: changed October 17) | PEGI 16, “In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)” | PlayStation UK store page |
| Fire Emblem Heroes | PEGI 12 (PocketGamer.biz) | PEGI 16 | Google Play UK |
| Zenless Zone Zero | PEGI 12 (Eurogamer) | PEGI 16, “Paid random items” | PEGI database, Google Play UK |
| Pokémon TCG Pocket | Not stated | PEGI 16 | Google Play UK |
| EA Sports FC Mobile | Not confirmed | PEGI 16 | Google Play UK |
| Monopoly Go | Not confirmed | PEGI 16 | Google Play UK |
Fire Emblem Heroes sells characters through gacha summons and now shows PEGI 16 on Google Play UK. Image: Nintendo
Reports naming the EA Sports FC series need a caveat. In PEGI’s database, EA Sports FC 26 and older entries are still PEGI 3, which fits the digital-only scope because they’re also sold on disc. EA Sports FC 27 (September 2026) is PEGI 16, but as a new release rated under the June criteria. The rollout isn’t finished either: Honkai: Star Rail still showed PEGI 12 in PEGI’s database and on Google Play UK on October 20, despite listing in-game purchases with random items.
We found no public statement about the changes from NetEase, Nintendo, HoYoverse, EA or The Pokémon Company at the time of writing.
Why this is happening now
The October update follows criteria that PEGI announced on March 12 and has applied to newly submitted games since June 2026. Under those rules, paid random items (loot boxes, card packs, gacha pulls) mean a default PEGI 16, and PEGI 18 in some cases. Other rules for new games:
- Time-limited or quantity-limited offers: PEGI 12.
- NFT or blockchain mechanics: PEGI 18.
- Communication with no blocking or reporting: PEGI 18.
The retroactive update only covers paid random items. Without it, older live games could keep a PEGI 12 for years while a new game with the same monetisation got a 16. Character gacha counts too, as Fire Emblem Heroes shows.
Card packs with random contents count as paid random items; Pokémon TCG Pocket now shows PEGI 16 on Google Play UK. Image: The Pokémon Company
What it means for players and parents
The games don’t change; the label does, and so does anything built on it. Console and phone parental controls that filter by PEGI age can now block these games on profiles set below 16, a real shift for a hero shooter like Marvel Rivals and for pack-based games such as FC Mobile (see our FC Mobile budget team guide). PEGI also sidesteps the old question of whether loot boxes are gambling (see our 2022 report on a court ruling) and simply treats paid randomness as grounds for a higher rating. For how PEGI labels have worked before, see our Elden Ring PEGI 16 report.
What’s next
Re-ratings continue through October, so more free-to-play games should switch to PEGI 16 in the next two weeks. Hinde pointed publishers with concerns to the PEGI Helpdesk; whether any push back publicly, and whether other systems such as the ESRB follow, is the next thing to watch.
Sources: PEGI (Oct 6), PEGI (Mar 12), Connor Hinde, Games Rating Authority, Eurogamer, PocketGamer.biz, Inven Global, PlayStation UK, Google Play UK store listings.
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Featured image: NetEase Games
