Like I said earlier, AO is not a rating that I'm familiar with since in Europe we simply call it 18+ and several popular games such as Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead and Dead Space have that rating.

If Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony refuse to put AO rated games on their systems it will undeniably impact their sales greatly. So apply all my previous points to M rated games.

It's why I provided the link to the list of AO games and the fact that no console manufacturer actually wants those games on their system.

But anyway, the point of the original argument is that I mentioned that having male genitalia exposed in a video game in a sexual context would give a game an AO rating, which was the only thing I wanted to say until that guy that was arguing with me brought up this whole other can of worms.  

However, I also disagree that M rated games get more sales for being RATED M in general.  What makes up an M rated game, sure to some extent.  However, if you could have that same content and have it somehow treated by retailers like an E rated game, the game will have a higher potential for sales.  The guy I was referring to thinks that it's the other way around.

edit:  (Like for example a game that's rated for 17+ being treated like a game for 3+ by retailers, you wont have to place any restrictions on who's buying it or restrict what retailers would consider putting it on their shelves).

And this is still a ridiculous discussion since the content is what declares a game's rating. You could argue that Dead Space would have sold more if it was rated E while retaining its M rated content, but such a scenario is absurd. Especially considering that the M rated content is what makes the game appealing.

There is no correlation between ESRB Ratings and sales. A fair amount of E rated games sells tons of copies. An AO rating would be irrelevant as most console and PC gamers are adults.

Fun Fact: Most retailers don't stock AO rated games.

The guy was pretty much arguing that it was the M rating itself that made better sales.  Even if he weren't, it's obviously a mixture of other things as well.  No effort would be needed to making a game if you could just slap in blood, gore, and sex.  The content that determines the rating is only a small part of its overall appeal.

I can tell you that on a personal level, the mature content in gta is the reason that I didnt buy it. Im not opposed to mature content, but gta is way over the top. I do think the gaming industry could do better with properly identifying their ratings, right now I think a lot of games are classified M when they should be T.

Not necessarily. Halo and Perfect Dark might have sold around the same levels even if they removed all the blood, but games like Dead Rising, Left 4 Dead and the aforementioned Dead Space rely heavily on their gore and violence. If they removed the content that made their rating M, their entire concepts would not be possible.

Some people actively look for M rated games at the store the same way some people look for heavy metal music. And what you are trying to argue is essentially that heavy metal albums would have sold more if they replaced the electric guitar with an acoustic guitar and toned down the instruments.

I think for games like Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead, their genres are defined by things like gore and violence.  However, it's also not done mindlessly.  Just slapping blood and gore into the game wouldn't have been any better than taking it out completely, if you know what I'm saying.

What I'm arguing is that the overall appeal of the game is made up of more than just what puts it into the E, T, M, (3, 6, 17+ or w/e) ratings.  If it were, all you would need to do is put those things in a game and just like that your game will start selling.  

Well, in that case you are arguing the obvious. And the original issue is that the guy you talked to acted as if an M rating (meaning added M rated content) would boost sales on any series when in reality it needs to fit into the game's concept. He did talk a lot through generalizations though, so that needs to be taken into account.

To summarize: Would Left 4 Dead have sold less without blood and gore? Yes. Would Halo have sold more if they suddenly added nudity? No. So his claim that unneccesary M rated content (or AO to directly quote him) always helps is wrong.

There are some very insecure people who only buy M rated games. They think playing T and E games make them less manly. I used to work with someone like that. He was a giant nob.