No sooner did the controversial video game Manhunt 2 reach the North American market than clever gamers figured out how to remove filters blurring out some of the game’s most brutal and violent content. However, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) doesn’t seem inclined to revoke the game’s 17-and-older “M” rating, since the violent content was fully disclosed by developer Rockstar Studios during the ratings process. During a conference call, ESRB president Patricia Vance exonerated Rockstar, saying the developer did nothing wrong.
Following the “Hot Coffee” scandal—in which hidden explicit sexual content was uncovered in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and exposed via third-party software—the violent content in Manhunt 2 was fully disclosed to the ESRB during the ratings process. Vance emphasized that Rockstar cannot be responsible for “unauthorized” changes to the game initiated by third parties. Even with the changes, Vance doesn’t believe the game, as changed through hacks, can “fully restore the product to the version that originally received an AO rating.” In contrast, the sexual content in GTA: San Andreas was accessible via the game, and had not been disclosed during the ratings process.
The ESRB’s stance would seem to protect the availability and ratings of games that fall victim to third-party modifications and hacks, so long as those hacks don’t expose anything in the game which was previously unknown to the ESRB. In those cases, neither the developers—nor, it seems, the ESRB—will assume any responsibility for the result.
