[casual_games] ESRB - new pricing now public

[Jason Akel]

The ESRB has asked me to post to the list their new submission rates. 

After hearing from the SIG committee, the IGDA and the industry at large,
they decided to create a new submission tier for games with smaller
production budgets (less than $250K). 

After discussions with the president of the ESRB, she assured me that this
lower submission price puts them at an operational. Despite the economics
for them, they would like to see the casual games industry widely adopt ESRB
ratings. I inquired about bulk pricing to help y'all get your catalogs
caught up - not going to happen, sorry. Remember, they are a non-profit.

< $250,000 = $800 (I believe previously it would have been $2,500)

(See schedule below for > $250K)

The ESRB hopes that this will assist your goals of becoming Vista/MSN
compliant. In addition, they hope developers see the intrinsic value in
having your games rated - the reality being that the majority of parents,
find their ratings to be useful.  As you know, there is increasing (not
decreasing) regulatory pressure on the games industry to responsibly market
games.

Here’s the new submission pricing schedule and form that is now public:
http://www.igda.org/casual/esrb-RATING-FEE-SCHEDULE.pdf 

-Jason

Jason Akel
Marketing & BusDev Consultant
Chair, IGDA Casual Games SIG
510 964 9094 (Office)
646 221 8885 (Cell)
510 722 1604 (Fax)
jasakel at hotmail.com (MSN IM)
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