IEMA Unveils New PC Game Packaging, ID Mark

The North American retail-related game trade organization the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA) has announced two changes to the standard PC video game packaging, including the organization’s new PC icon, and a new packaging template that incorporates the newly redesigned icon. The organization hopes the changes will standardize the look of PC game packaging, and bring it more in line with that of console titles, as PC physical game retail space continues to shrink in many North American retail stores. IEMA introduced the smaller “IEMA box” PC packaging redesign in 1999, which effectively created a 33% increase in PC shelf space for retailers, thus allowing more titles to be displayed. Two years later it introduced the original version of the PC icon in an effort to eliminate consumer confusion about for which platform the game was created. “I am very pleased to present the industry with our updated design for computer game boxes,” said Hal Halpin, president of the IEMA. “A tremendous amount of collaborative work went into preparing, designing and executing upon this final product, which we hope will be as beneficial to the sector as our previous efforts have been.” Both the new packaging and icon will debut with the PC version of Electronic Arts' upcoming Madden ’07, scheduled to ship in August, and then be used on the majority of PC software titles released in North America, going forward.