MATH TIME!!!!!
For a game under $1million to produce that is already rated digital, the cost is $3000 for a physical rating upgrade...
That's an addition $1 per game for a 3000 print run... or $0.50 per game for a 6000 copy print run (typically when they do multiple covers and an LE).
I don't see the real problem here. Like iam8bit (who also doesn't have an issue with the requirement), these folks sell at all-age trade shows and more importantly they sell at retail stores now where they have no control over who buys the games. So having an esrb on there is a good way to CYA. It would suck if they (likely someone helping at the booth) sold a game to a kid underage at a trade show and then the parents sued them. That would likely end LRG as a business. Especially if the parents were wealthy.
The real problem here is paying this up front when a dev is already broke and about to go under. For them, I feel bad for their situation, but that's life. Sometimes businesses fail. Sometimes good games get overlooked and sometimes games aren't as good as the devs think they are. That's the creative business and why I would encourage anyone wanting to do indie game development to not quit their day job before actually making enough withe their game company to actually survive well.
Seems like the
devs are going to ultimately make more from this. Especially the LaMulana Ex release with 5500 copies and the $5 upcharge from the past pricing model. That's upwards of $24,500 ((5500 units x $5) - $3000 esrb) extra on this release alone. Even if the ESRB is taking $10K because of the time past when it was originally rated, that's still $17,500 more for the dev and lrg to split. That's the beauty of Math and having some numbers to work with. Sure it's not a pure $24,500 profit because someone has to spend some time filing the paper work and dealing with getting the game rated for physical, but with the upcharge in game prices now... it seems like they could cover the hours required with the massive extra bit of profit.
Next, I'd like to see LRG pay the $100 or whatever to get their own registered UPC's and to stop using that odd companies codes on the back of games. Having real UPC codes actually registered to LRG (like every other dev out there actually does) and ESRB on the cover... that makes these releases as official as any other retail game.
ESRB has an iron grip on the industry and that's bad.
The ESRB was FORMED by the industry itself rather than the government coming in and policing game content. It's a good thing overall, though I think they could do better with their rates considering the size of the game market considering they are a non-profit. I guess, though, with more serious fees and even more serious fines, it makes it important to make sure people are legitimate in how they declare the content of their games.
Overall it's a very good thing.