Starfield Is Rated M for Mature (17+) by the ESRB

wccftech.com:

Nearly two months after the Australian board shared the rating assigned to Starfield, the new Twitter banner of the game's official account reveals it has also been rated in the United States by the ESRB.

A quick search on the Entertainment Software Rating Board's website shows no entry for Starfield yet. Still, Bethesda and Microsoft must have received it directly from the ESRB before it would actually show up over there. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to publicize a non-final rating without clearly labeling it as pending.

The ESRB rated Starfield M for Mature, with a 17+ recommendation. It's the same rating the organization assigned to every product released by Bethesda Game Studios since 2003's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, which was rated T for Teen. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 all received an M for Mature rating.

Predictably, it's also lower than the Restricted - 18+ rating assigned to the game by the harsher Australian organization. While they don't provide a detailed description of the game's content (unlike the ESRB), they have a chart to describe how they reached that consensus.

According to that chart, there is no sex in Starfield, and the impact of any nudity scenes was deemed very mild'. On the other hand, the language and themes used in the game were considered to be of moderate impact, the violence featured in the game was rated as having a strong impact, and the drug use as having a high impact. It was the latter that earned the game its final rating.

The news of the ESRB's rating is yet another small step toward the release of the much-anticipated game. It's been a long road, as Bethesda Game Studios decided to announce