Online ads for 7 Road’s Wartune have been running with the tagline “Adult Gamers Only” and the ESRB’s trademarked AO logo. This doesn’t sit right with the ESRB, as the game has not been rated by the organization, not to mention that the ads run afoul of the ESRB’s advertising guidelines that state no ad should “glamorize or exploit” a game’s rating.
“We have advised the game’s publisher that they must discontinue their unauthorized use of our AO rating icon in its marketing,” said an ESRB representative. “While it’s fairly rare for a game to self-apply a rating we will always move quickly to address the issue. Our goal is, of course, that they immediately stop using the rating. If a game is digitally distributed, we also encourage companies to use our Digital Rating Service, which is fast and easy and assigns ratings without the developer having to pay a fee.”
Source: GamesIndustry International
