It’s been nearly two decades since TimeSplitters: Future Perfect closed out the TimeSplitters trilogy. However, fans have recently noted that the title once rated M by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 2005 currently has a T for Teen rating on the Xbox game store and the PlayStation store. Now, the ESRB has cleared up why the rating has changed even though the content of the game remains the same.
The ratings change for TimeSplitters: Future Perfect was first noticed by a fan on Reddit, and subsequently confirmed by other players as well. The fans on the site also noted that the ESRB still has Future Perfect listed as an M-rated game on its official site. According to the ESRB, the reason why the game has a new rating is because the group didn’t rate the version that’s currently available on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Instead, the International Age Rating Coalition provided the Teen rating for both platforms.
“Our website lists the original physical/retail releases of the game for GameCube, PS2, and the original Xbox from 2005,” said an ESRB spokesperson. “The game was recently re-rated via IARC as part of new releases on modern consoles; the Xbox.com rating was updated to conform to those new ratings. It is a digital version of the original Xbox release that works on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. The ESRB.org website is limited to retail releases and reflects the rating assigned for the original, retail release from roughly 20 years ago.”
Presumably this means that IARC’s standards for blood, gore, and violence don’t line up with the ESRB’s, which is why it’s no longer an M-rated game for the modern consoles. Perhaps the ESRB should sing another song to clarify that.
