Here’s Why TimeSplitters: Future Perfect Got a Rating Change, 19 Years Later

It’s been nearly two decades since TimeSplitters: Future Perfect concluded the TimeSplitters trilogy. However, fans have recently noticed that the title, which was given an M rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 2005, now has a T (teen) rating on the Xbox Game Store and the PlayStation Store. Now, the ESRB has clarified why the rating changed, even though the game’s content remains the same.

The rating change for TimeSplitters: Future Perfect was first spotted by a fan on Reddit, and then confirmed by other players. Fans on the site also noted that the ESRB still lists Future Perfect as an M-rated game on its official site. According to the ESRB, the reason the game has a new rating is because the group has not yet rated the version currently available on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Instead, the International Age Rating Coalition has issued a Teen rating for both platforms.

“Our website lists the original physical/retail releases of the game for GameCube, PS2, and the original Xbox from 2005,” an ESRB spokesperson said. “The game was recently re-rated through IARC as part of new releases on modern consoles; the Xbox.com rating has been updated to reflect those new ratings. This is a digital version of the original Xbox release that works on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. The ESRB.org website is limited to retail releases and reflects the rating assigned to the original, retail release from approximately 20 years ago.”

This likely means that the IARC’s standards for blood, gore, and violence do not match those of the ESRB, and therefore it is no longer an M-rated game for modern consoles. Perhaps the ESRB should sing a song to clarify that.