The consequences of the health crisis caused by the coronavirus affects all strata of the video game industry, from the development teams, to the distribution and logistics of the manufacture of the physical copies, as well as to the age rating agencies themselves that have to evaluate the games before they go on the market. Both in North America and in Europe, we can be calm, for the moment, since ESRB and PEGI continue their work despite the coronavirus
Age rating agencies are an essential barrier they are required to pass all those games that want to launch on Xbox or PlayStation. In the event that these organisms are temporarily inactive, such as Japanese ZERO due to the coronavirus, games would have to be hopelessly delayed. Both PEGI and ESRB continue their daily work through home thanks to telework (via Gamerant
Even so, it is possible that major releases of the year will be irretrievably delayed, since the launch of a video game also entails a very important logistical preparation, especially if it is a Triple A game that expects to sell millions of copies in physical format, such as the The Last of Us case Part 2. That organizations such as PEGI and ESRB continue to operate ensures that, at least, more modest or independent games will not have the need to delay their launch.
