EA and Internet Matters Launch Play Together/Play Smart Campaign
Ian Wright and Scummy Mummies are supporting the latest industry campaign to educate parents and guardians about spending restrictions and family settings.
Electronic Arts have teamed up with the non-profit Internet Matters to launch a new campaign aimed at helping parents and guardians understand video games and protect their children from unsuitable content.
The Play Together/Play Smart initiative, which is timed to coincide with the school summer vacations, revolves around a new website that serves as a reference center for parents and guardians.
These two firms have gathered and published tips on how to set up family controls for various games and consoles. They can set screen time and in-game spending limits, and select age-appropriate games for their kids on the site.
There are also videos featuring former footballer Ian Wright and Scummy Mummies hosts Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn offering advice.
After his in-game counterpart lost a match, Wright complimented EA for permanently banning a FIFA player who texted him racial abuse.
In addition, Internet Matters presented the findings of a new study of 2,000 parents, which revealed that only 42% of parents talk to their children about how to play video games securely, and only 37% have set up parental controls.
The majority of parents and guardians who haven’t put up these restrictions are either ignorant of them, don’t know how to set them up, or believe it’s too difficult.
This is the latest move in the industry to improve awareness of such settings, including screen time and spending limitations. Microsoft’s Xbox Family Guide, UKIE’s Get Smart About Play campaign, and its follow-up Get Set Go activity are examples of previous initiatives.
With FIFA Playtime, EA introduced a new feature last year to assist gamers control and track their spending.
The feature was released amid continuous criticism of EA’s usage of loot box-style monetization methods, which has resulted in class action lawsuits in both the United States and Canada.