International Age Rating Coalition
| Abbreviation | IARC |
|---|---|
| Formation | December 2013 |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Company |
| Purpose | Classification of digitally delivered video games and apps |
Official languages | Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Website | globalratings |
The International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) is an initiative aimed at streamlining acquisition of content ratings for video games, from authorities of different countries. Introduced in 2013, the IARC system simplifies the process of obtaining ratings by developers, through the use of questionnaires, which assess the content of the product. This new process reduces the costs of video game developers as they seek to obtain ratings for their products that are distributed digitally online.
The effort was created through a coalition of rating authorities from around the world, including ESRB in North America, PEGI in Europe, USK in Germany, ClassInd in Brazil, and the Australian Classification Board, and first announced by PEGI's MD at the 2013 London Games Conference. In August 2014, the Australian Classification Board introduced amendments to allow for the automated classification process employed by the IARC. On 19 December 2017, South Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) became a member. In 2023, IARC partnered with the Taipei Computer Association (TCA) to provide age ratings for the Taiwanese market using the government's Taiwan Entertainment Software Rating Information (TESRI) age rating system.