PEGI paid random items: what the label means, and why games with them are now PEGI 16

"Paid random items" is a line of text PEGI adds under its In-Game Purchases descriptor when a game sells items you pay for without knowing exactly what you'll get, such as loot boxes or card packs. Since June 2026 it also changes the age rating: games submitted to PEGI since June 2026 that have paid random items are PEGI 16 by default, or PEGI 18 for games that simulate games of chance.

The rule started with new submissions, but PEGI has since been updating the ratings of games that were already out. Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves and League of Legends have all gone from PEGI 12 to PEGI 16. Not every game has been updated yet, so an older PEGI 12 can still be the current rating.

What counts as a paid random item?

PEGI's labels page defines paid random items as "all in-game offers where players don't know exactly what they are getting prior to the purchase". In practice:

• Bought with money or with a currency: they count whether you pay real money directly or exchange an in-game virtual currency for them.
• Cosmetic or not: they count whether the items only change how things look or affect how the game plays.
• Any format: PEGI names loot boxes and card packs. Gacha pulls, crates, chests and treasures work the same way.

Naraka: Bladepoint's treasures are a typical example: you buy Gold, spend it on a treasure and get a reward drawn at random. Our look at whether Naraka: Bladepoint is free to play covers what that Gold costs and the odds NetEase publishes.

The In-Game Purchases descriptor itself appears on any game that sells content for real money. "Paid random items" is added only when some of those purchases are random.

What rating does a game with paid random items get?

PEGI announced the change on 12 March 2026. Its announcement says that, starting in June 2026, newly submitted games are classified against a broader set of criteria covering purchases of in-game content, paid random items, communication features and features that push players to keep playing.

For paid random items, the announcement says "the default rating will be PEGI 16 if the game contains paid random items (and in some cases they can be a PEGI 18)". PEGI's labels page names the PEGI 18 case: games that simulate games of chance.

Some other points from PEGI's announcement:

• It follows Germany. PEGI developed the criteria with USK, Germany's rating body, which made similar changes in 2023. USK found that at least one of its new criteria applied to about 30% of the games submitted since, and about one in three of those got a higher rating.
• Publishers have to tell PEGI. When a game has these features, the publisher must submit extra information about them with the game.
• PEGI will review it. It says it will keep assessing how the criteria work over the next year.

Which existing games has PEGI re-rated?

The announcement and labels page describe the criteria for newly submitted games, but PEGI has also been updating games that were already rated. Their entries on pegi.info now carry this note:

"Following changes to the PEGI rating criteria that took effect in June 2026, this title's age rating has been updated to PEGI 16 because it includes loot boxes or other paid random items. These can be purchased with real money, and players do not know exactly what they will receive before purchasing. The game can still be played without purchasing these items."

These are the games we track that we checked on pegi.info on 7 November 2026:

Game	pegi.info now	Before
Genshin Impact	PEGI 16, updated with the note above	PEGI 12
Wuthering Waves	PEGI 16, updated with the note above	PEGI 12
League of Legends	PEGI 16, updated with the note above	PEGI 12
Naraka: Bladepoint	PEGI 16: "received a PEGI 16 because it features the ability to purchase loot boxes"	PEGI 12
Overwatch	PEGI 16 for the free-to-play PC version, with paid random items; the older Legendary and Game of the Year editions are still PEGI 12	PEGI 12
Guild Wars 2	Expansions Visions of Eternity, Janthir Wilds and Secrets of the Obscure are each PEGI 16 with paid random items; we found no entry for the base game	–
SYNDUALITY: Echo of Ada	Still PEGI 12, although it has the paid random items descriptor	–

pegi.info doesn't say when it started updating existing games or when it will finish. SYNDUALITY shows the job isn't done for every title, so a game with loot boxes can still be PEGI 12 for now. The rating printed on a box, or shown by a shop, can also lag behind. For the current rating, search for the game on pegi.info.

What else changed in June 2026?

Paid random items are one of several "interactive risk" features PEGI now rates. Each one has a text descriptor of its own:

Feature	What it covers	Rating
Paid random items	Loot boxes, card packs and other purchases where you don't know what you'll get	PEGI 16 by default; PEGI 18 for games that simulate games of chance
Time-limited offers	Purchases only on sale for a limited time or in limited numbers	PEGI 12; PEGI 7 if the game's built-in parental controls switch spending off by default
Cryptocurrency	NFTs or other crypto assets that are needed to play, can be traded or are central to the game	PEGI 18
Pressure to play	Rewards for coming back at set times, such as daily quests	PEGI 7; PEGI 12 if players are punished for not returning
Unrestricted communication	Chat where you can't block or mute other players and there's no moderation	PEGI 18

The In-Game Purchases descriptor on its own still doesn't raise a rating; PEGI's labels page says only these specific features do. Our guide to PEGI ratings explains every age label and content descriptor.

What can parents do?

• Read the text under the label. "Paid random items", "Time-limited offers" and the other lines tell you more than the number does, especially on a game PEGI hasn't updated yet.
• Use the parental tools. PEGI says every platform that uses its ratings has parental tools that can limit spending, online interaction and playtime. Set a spending limit or turn on purchase approval for a child's account on the console, PC store or phone.
• Look for the odds. Many publishers publish them. Our drop-rate index collects the ones on publishers' websites, and the Genshin Impact soft pity article shows what one publisher does and doesn't confirm about its guarantees.
• Know the UK rules. Loot boxes are legal to sell in the UK, and the industry's 2023 principles commit companies to stopping under-18s buying them without a parent's consent or knowledge: see loot boxes and UK law.

How we checked

pegi.info blocks automated requests, so PEGI's 12 March 2026 announcement, its "What do the labels mean?" page and its rating search were all read in a browser on 7 November 2026. The quotes, ratings and USK figures above come from those pages. The "Before" column is the PEGI 12 rating each game page recorded on pegi.info (Overwatch, Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves, League of Legends, Naraka: Bladepoint) when we first checked it in October 2026.