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Following in the footsteps of what happened in the UK under its Online Safety Act, Steam has now rolled out age verification in Australia for games with an R18+ rating.
The result has already ruffled some feathers. Under the system, Valve asks users to add a credit card to prove they’re 18 or older – and that’s the only way to do it.
While other platforms like PlayStation, Xbox and Epic Games have already put age verification live, those allow you to verify via various approaches including length of account ownership, Government issue ID (passport/license) or facial scans.
Valve requires an actual credit card to age-verify in order to play/purchase R18+ games – and the likes of debit cards and PayPal are NOT accepted.
That’s an issue as only around 35% of Australian adults have a credit card. Some people who’ve had Steam accounts for 19-22 years are suddenly being impacted.
If you already bought the game, you can be blocked from viewing the store page for said game – something a few people are finding out when they visit the pages for “Cyberpunk 2077,” “Resident Evil: Requiem” and “Alan Wake II” within the Steam app.
Games bought previously are still capable of being launched, but new purchases fall under the requirement.
Source: Bitdefender
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