Halo 5's Teen Rating Will Improve Sales, Xbox Exec Says

Unlike every other Halo FPS ever released, Halo 5: Guardians received a T-for-Teen rating from the ESRB instead of M-for-Mature. Now, Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg has shed more light on Microsoft's reaction to the rating and what impact it could have on sales.

Speaking with GameSpot, Greenberg said previous games receving M ratings was curious, given the subject matter and non-graphic depictions of violence. He's happy with Halo 5's T rating and says, not unlike Destiny, this will only help the game reach players it might not have otherwise.

"I do expect the T rating will help game sales," he said. "Core Halo fans are going to buy the game no matter what the rating is, and I think we've seen that. A lot of people were surprised that previous Halo games were M-rated sort of given the style of the game and the lack of real graphic violence and things like that. We're pleased with the rating.

"And so, I think if you look at how Destiny has done with the T rating, you look at how some of the other shooters have done with a T rating, we believe there is an audience of fans, particularly younger fans and parents that don't let their kids play games that are M-rated," he added. "Being able to have a T-rated game will sort of put this game on the 'approved' list for a broader audience which we think is a good thing."

There are Halo games that have received Teen ratings in the past, but both--Halo Wars and Halo: Spartan Assault--were spinoffs that took very different approaches to the core series.

Halo 5 launched on October 27 exclusively for Xbox One. For more, check out GameSpot's review and what other critics are saying.

GameSpot's full interview with Greenberg also covers the Xbox One's holiday lineup, his reaction the recent PlayStation 4 price cut, losing the Call of Duty exclusivity deal, what's happening with Fable Legends, and more. Read it here.