PEGI sets minimum 16 rating for games with paid random items

On 12 March 2026 PEGI announced that it is expanding age-rating criteria to cover interactive risks (PEGI news). From June 2026, newly submitted games are classified under the broader criteria. PEGI’s labels page confirms that games with paid random items submitted since June 2026 will be PEGI 16 or PEGI 18 (social casino) (What do the labels mean?).

What changed

Paid random items are in-game offers where the player does not know exactly what they receive before purchase — loot boxes, card packs and similar — bought with real money and/or virtual currency that itself can be bought with real money. The default age band for such titles becomes PEGI 16; social casino games remain or become PEGI 18.

Related interactive-risk bands from the same reform include: time- or quantity-limited purchase offers at PEGI 12 (or PEGI 7 if spending is off by default via parental tools); NFT/cryptocurrency-required play at PEGI 18; play-by-appointment rewards at PEGI 7 (or PEGI 12 if non-return is punished); unrestricted communication without block/report at PEGI 18.

PEGI states the new rules apply to games submitted from June onwards, not a blanket re-rating of the entire catalogue on day one.

Operator action

Do not treat secondary news as the rating authority; the controlling text is PEGI’s notice and labels page. Store gate behaviour still depends on Apple/Google regional implementation of PEGI.

Download the change-log card.

Research checked 20 September 2026. Local draft; human editorial review pending.