Say what you will about the violence in Halo 5: Guardians, 343 Industries’ latest shooter, but it certainly isn’t pushing any boundaries. Much like Bungie’s Destiny, Halo 5: Guardians is rated “T” for Teen and appears to a younger demographic. It’s interesting when you consider that previous Halo games had M ratings despite their violence not really being much more explicit.
Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg actually spoke to GameSpot about this and stated that, “I do expect the T rating will help game sales. Core Halo fans are going to buy the game no matter what the rating is, and I think we’ve seen that. A lot of people were surprised that previous Halo games were M-rated sort of given the style of the game and the lack of real graphic violence and things like that. We’re pleased with the rating.
“And so, I think if you look at how Destiny has done with the T rating, you look at how some of the other shooters have done with a T rating, we believe there is an audience of fans, particularly younger fans and parents that don’t let their kids play games that are M-rated. Being able to have a T-rated game will sort of put this game on the ‘approved’ list for a broader audience which we think is a good thing.”
Halo 5: Guardians is currently available for Xbox One. What are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments.