PEGI 18 rated games allowed on Windows Store from December

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Windows 8 Store will not allow games rated higher than PEGI 16 on the Windows Store. According to Eurogamer, Microsoft has now announced that it will not prohibit PEGI 18 rated games on the Windows 8 store. The new rule for apps will come into effect from December this year.

Games such as Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are currently unavailable on the Windows 8 Store. “Your app must not contain adult content, and metadata must be appropriate for everyone. Apps with a rating over PEGI 16, ESRB Mature, or that contain content that would warrant such a rating, are not allowed,” the Windows Store app rules say. “Windows Store apps are appropriate for a global audience.”

PEGI 18 rated games will be on the Windows 8 Store after all

Fortunately, this does not mean that PEGI 18 rated games are not playable on Windows 8. But it looks like Microsoft is trying to take Windows 8 in the same direction as Apple’s Mac with its own regulated App Store. It has lead to criticism of the company by big names in the games development industry such as John Carmack, Markus Persson, and Gabe Newell.

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Last month, Markus “Notch” Persson spoke out against Windows 8 for the second time. “Got an email from Microsoft, wanting to help ‘certify’ Minecraft for Win 8,” he tweeted. “I told them to stop trying to ruin the PC as an open platform.” He added, “I’d rather have Minecraft not run on Win 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to Win 8 that way.”

Back in August during QuakeCon, John Carmack had spoken out against Windows 8 in his keynote speech. Carmack mentioned that his team had started working on Windows 7 directly after XP, and that they had skipped Windows Vista entirely, “Hardly anyone at id used Vista.” When Windows 7 was released, Carmack added, it was a bit more attractive because it did some things better and faster. So there was no reason for him to consider switching to Windows 8. He said that no one in his team has worked on Windows 8 yet. However, his team intended to do so, because the launch of Doom 3: BFG Edition was very close to that of Windows 8.

Carmack had stated that while he has much more respect for Microsoft than others, he has some doubts about the new touch-based UI in Windows 8, and whether it will be successful. He also said he is “kind of excited” about the Surface tablet.

Carmack joined the growing list of important game developers that are not keen on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 OS. Earlier, Notch had spoken out about Windows 8 on a Q&A on Reddit. “If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8, it would be very, very bad for Indie games and competition in general,” Notch said during the Q&A. “If we can keep open platforms around, there’s going to be a lot of very interesting games in ten years, mixed in with the huge AAA games that we all love.”