Epic Games is teaming up with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to bring age ratings to all Fortnite content. Starting 14 November, these ratings will cover everything, whether it’s from Epic themselves or third-party stuff.

So, why is this a big deal? Well, according to Patricia Vance, who’s the big cheese at ESRB and also chairs the IARC, it’s all about giving parents the lowdown on what their kids are getting into. Fortnite is spreading its wings beyond just Battle Royale, and parents need to know what’s up.

These ratings are like your parental sidekick. They’ll help you decide if a particular Fortnite experience is right for your little gamers. Epic’s also beefing up its Parental Controls so you can filter stuff better. Plus, you can even decide if your kiddos can get creative and design their own games in Creative Mode.

And here’s the twist for third-party developers: they’ll need to get on board with IARC ratings too. It’s all part of the Island approval process now. If you’re a creator, you’ll have to fill out an IARC content rating form, and then some moderators will give it a once-over. For existing islands, Epic’s opening the IARC questionnaire on 16 October. But if your island isn’t rated by 14 November, it’s gonna get the boot.

Oh, and just to make things spicy, there are regional ratings. Different parts of the world have different tastes, right? So, they’ve got region-specific ratings. ESRB (North America), PEGI (Europe), ACB (Australia), USK (Germany), ClassInd (Brazil), and more are all in the mix. And these rating folks can tweak stuff if they want, even after it’s out there.

Now, what’s the backstory to all this? Well, not too long ago, Epic said goodbye to its shares in a kid tech platform called SuperAwesome. But they’re holding on to the age-check tools from SuperAwesome’s Kids Web Service. Plus, they’re splitting off the advertising part. So, with these IARC ratings and the age-check tools, Fortnite’s gonna stay parent-approved.