Nintendo Switch Game Pulled From Sale, Controversial Content Cited as Cause

A controversial game was removed from the Nintendo Switch eShop last week due to its age rating, if nothing else. It’s called Need for Spirit Drink & Drive Simulator, and it was published on Oct. 15 with a PEGI rating of 3+, indicating that children as young as three years old could play it. Now, the game rating authority is saying it must be resubmitted with a rating of 16+ to be considered.

Need for Spirit Drink & Drive Simulator invites customers to play as a “hapless professional driver tasked with delivering alcoholic beverages to various celebrations, all while battling the perils of abysmal roads and your very own addiction to the booze you’re transporting.” Of course, that content isn’t for just anyone, but the 3+ age rating was especially shocking. The Interaction Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) was the first to take action with its Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) rating system, but the game will likely need to be reconsidered by other systems as well.

PEGI was established in 2003 to give parents content warnings about the video games their children might be playing. It’s a simple system that describes the games based on the youngest age a player should be in order to handle it. Its ratings are 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+, or 18+. Generally, in the U.S. and Canada we us the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) system for video games, which includes ratings of E for Everyone, E 10+, T for Teen, M for Mature and AO for Adults Only.

On both rubrics, the criteria for each rating is clearly listed and there’s no doubt that Need for Sprint Drink & Drive deserves a PEGI 16 or perhaps even PEGI 18. In fact, according to a report by EuroGamer this game has already been on sale on the Epic Games website for months. There, it has a PEGI rating of 16+. In the U.S., the game has a rating of T.

A spokesperson for the ISFE told EuroGamer that it is Nintendo who required the game to be removed from the eShop in order to have the rating changed. They said: “When an investigation shows that the PEGI rating changes by more than one age category, the game is taken down and Nintendo requires that the game is resubmitted with an accurate rating (to ensure their parental control tools work properly).”