“PEGI is the solution for today, and the solution for tomorrow,” ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) director general Paul Jackson told MPs, civil servants and media at the Westminster Media Forum in Whitehall.

Jackson called the adoption of the PEGI system the single most important decision faced by the UK games industry in a generation. Backed by senior figures from leading publishers, he said that the industry was ready to work with government on a PEGI public awareness strategy.

“The PEGI age ratings system is favored by Nintendo,” said David Yarnton, general manager of Nintendo UK. “It has the ability to assess and rate all game content and does not rely on a sample of game play to form its decisions.

“The fact that there is also an EC proposal for member states to adopt PEGI only adds further weight to the solid arguments and facts for its UK adoption as the sole system of choice for games ratings.”

Rob Cooper, managing director of Ubisoft UK, called the PEGI system “future proof”.

“It is a self-regulation system that is operated by experts that are best qualified and experienced to do the job. As an international business selling games across the world, we urge government to understand the depth of importance of this decision as we enter a period in which games will grow exponentially.”

Earlier this year as part of a government commissioned review, clinical psychologist Tanya Byron identified a number of ways in which she believed the UK videogame classification system could be reformed and simplified, with the key goals of keeping adult-rated content out of the hands of children and raising awareness amongst parents about age-ratings.

Byron recommended that all games that would otherwise receive a 12+ PEGI rating should be regulated on a statutory basis by the BBFC, and that games rated below 12+ should be exempt from statutory classification.

However, as Byron acknowledged at the time of the review’s publication, there are other perspectives concerning the best route forward, and in June the UK government announced plans to launch a four month public consultation on reforming the current classification system.

Since the publication of Byron’s review, ELSPA has on a number of occasions questioned the BBFC’s ability and suitability to cope with the extra ratings responsibility proposed, and claimed that PEGI offers better protection for minors, sentiments that have now been backed by Sega Europe CEO Mike Hayes.

“If you look at the PEGI system against the film ratings board in the UK, you will see that PEGI is the only system that has the power to prevent games publishers distributing unsuitable content to children,” he said. “It can ban a publisher’s entire output, rather than just a single title. This power is backed by the entire industry.”

Keith Ramsdale, general manager of EA UK, also came out fighting for PEGI. “Only PEGI is built to address the fast changing nature of the games industry and is best placed to deliver the needed protection for minors,” he said.

For its part, the BBFC says that it is “ready and able” to take on the extra work outlined in Byron’s report. On Monday the body’s director, David Cooke, questioned the structure of PEGI, and said claims that an extension of the BBFC’s remit would lead to delayed game releases and increased rating costs were misleading.