Spider-Man Receives “Teen” Rating From ESRB Ahead of Release

Spider-Man recently finished development over at Insomniac Games, and the title is now just a little less than a month away from launch. Ahead of its release, the ESRB (that is, the Entertainment Software Rating Board) have confirmed the age rating for the game.

Unsurprisingly, Spider-Man has been given a “T” for “Teen” rating. That does, of course, coincide with the kind of property Spider-Man is in general, so that part isn’t really surprising at all. That said, ESRB’s rating summary shares some interesting details on the game’s content and the stuff that has warranted a “T” rating for it. We’ve shared it below, but do note that there might be some light and vague spoilers in there, so if you want to go into the game completely blind, you might want to close this tab.

“This is an action game in which players assume the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a fictional version of New York City,” the rating summary reads. “From a third-person perspective, players fight crime, swing around buildings, and engage in melee combat with various thugs. Characters mostly punch, kick, and throw each other during fights; some enemy characters also use pistols and machine guns. Combat is highlighted by realistic gunfire, screams of pain, impact sounds, and occasional slow-motion sequences. One cutscene depicts a character in the background shooting himself in the head; another cutscene depicts a mugger shooting an innocent character (just out of frame). Some missions/plotlines involve drug deals and “designer narcotics”; one scene briefly shows a duffel bag full of white packages of the drug. The word “sh*t” appears in the dialogue.”

So yeah, the mention of the on-screen suicide is certainly interesting, and it should be interesting to see how that fits into the game. Also interesting- “designer narcotics”. Is it perhaps referring to Grave Dust and the inclusion of the villain Tombstone? We recently wrote a report on this– it certainly seems to fit.

Spider-Man launches on September 7 exclusively for the PS4. Here’s 15 important things you need to know about the game.