"I think they came off like a school yard bully, rather than an industry partner", said 3D Realms co-founder Scott Miller who have just received a letter from ESRP giving 3D Realms 10 days to fix 30 ESRB violations found on their official website, or face the consequent penalties.
Most of the violations stemmed from 3D Realms' use of "old pixilated" rating icons and the lack of content descriptors, such as "Blood" and "Nudity". Steps to obtain the proper rating icons and content labels were not provided, though the letter contained contact information for an ESRB representative
One can argue that ESRP is bullying #d Realms over technicalities. Nevertheless, ESRP gave 3D Realms only 10 days to get everything ship-shape or face penalties ranging from "temporary suspension of all ESRB rating services for any other of [the] company's products" (which as we all know from the Manhunt 2 incident is effectively banning them) to fines of $10,000 for repeat infractions.
ESRB president Patricia Vance has responded in an official statement: "The role of ESRB, as the industry's self-regulatory body, is to ensure that consumers have easy access to reliable information about the games they consider buying for their families, and that games are marketed appropriately and responsibly".