Pat Vance accepts the Visionary Award at GamesBeat Summit 2025. Source: GamesBeat
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Standing watch on The Wall to protect young video game players | Pat Vance interview

Patricia E. Vance is one of those people who watches over society, protecting it from crazy things — not unlike the watchers on The Wall in Game of Thrones.

As president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), Vance‘s job is to lead the teams responsible for assigning age and content ratings to video games and apps, enforcing marketing guidelines adopted by the video game industry, and operating ESRB Privacy Certified.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.