Entertainment Software Rating Board The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a non - profit , self - regulatory organization that provides ratings , enforces advertising guidelines , and provides online privacy practices for the video game industry in the United States and Canada . It was established in 1994 by the Electronic Software Association . Only one " Final Fantasy " game so far has been rated " Mature " , and no games feature the " Adults Only " rating . The decision to found the ESRB was due to the graphic " fatality " killing moves from " Mortal Kombat " and other violent video games at the time . Ratings . The ESRB provides for 7 general ratings , and 32 " Content Descriptors . " Depending on the intensity of the content , some games can be restricted from general access , the guidelines for which are as follows below . Advisory content ratings . These ratings are advisory in nature , and are sold without any restrictions on access : Rating Pending Titles listed as RP ( Rating Pending ) have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating . This symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game ' s release . Games that have more intense content may prompt the use of the disclaimer " May contain content inappropriate for children " in the trailers . Titles rated EC ( Early Childhood ) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older . Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate . Everyone Titles rated E ( Everyone ) have content that may be suitable for all ages . Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon , fantasy or mild violence and / or infrequent use of mild language . Everyone 10 + Titles rated E10 + ( Everyone 10 and older ) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older . Titles in this category may contain more cartoon , fantasy or mild violence , mild language and / or minimal suggestive themes . Titles rated T ( Teen ) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older . Titles in this category may contain sexual content , violence , suggestive themes , crude humor , minimal blood , simulated gambling , and / or infrequent use of strong language . This is the highest unrestricted rating , and is the most common rating amongst all " Final Fantasy " games in the United States and Canada . The first game in the spinoff series " Crystal Chronicles " was also rated T , but the E10 + rating was not created at that time . Subsequent games in that series were all rated E10 + , as that series is aimed at a younger audience than the main series . Restricted content ratings . By contrast , the following ratings are legally restricted from general access , and require consumers to be of a certain age in order to obtain games with these ratings : Mature Titles rated M ( Mature ) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older . Titles in this category may contain intense violence , blood and gore , sexual content and / or strong language . Players under 17 cannot get games with this rating unless they have parental consent to do so , and if they are 17 or older , they must show ID proving it . " Final Fantasy Type - 0 " is the only game in the series to receive this rating . Adults Only Titles rated AO ( Adults Only ) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older . Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and / or strong sexual content and nudity . As with the M rating , players must show ID to obtain games with this rating . Only 28 games so far have received this rating , and this rating is assigned to games very rarely . Content Descriptors . In addition to the general ratings listed on the front of the box , the ESRB also provides detailed " content descriptors " on the back of the video game box . A complete list of the content descriptors may be found here . Given the fairly intense ( to varying degrees , but not too severe ) content of many of the games in this franchise , the consumer playing the game , depending on the consumer ' s age , may need parental guidance ( the majority of " Final Fantasy " games are rated T , which is the highest unrestricted rating ) . In the United States , there are often many content edits made for censorship purposes , due to cultural differences with , and higher censorship standards than , Japan ; darker and more mature themes tend to be censored for American audiences ( for more information , see the article about the localization of Square Enix video games ) .