For days now, Adult gamers attempting to purchase R18+ games on popular digital store Steam have been left in the lurch.
Steam is requiring users enter a valid credit card to verify their age, leaving thousands of Australians unable to view and purchase games like Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077, Mortal Kombat, DOOM: The Dark Ages — just to name a few.
The Australian government’s eSafety rules require app stores like steam to provide age verification methods.
Rather than an ID, Steam’s asking for a credit card. Hundreds of users are reporting that their credit cards aren’t being accepted, and a debit card is no longer an option.
Steam’s choice of verification isn’t ideal for thousands of gamers, and there’s strong opinions online.
What do you make of this decision from Valve (Steam)? Let us know.
eSafety has confirmed to this masthead that its engaging with Valve regarding this mess.
Quest Daily has also reached out to Valve for comment.
Full statement from an eSafety spokesperson:
The Age-Restricted Material Codes are focussed on preventing children’s access to age-restricted material, such as high impact violence, pornography, suicide and self-harm material as well as eating disorder content. This co-regulatory framework was provided for by Parliament in the Online Safety Act of 2021.
It’s important to note that these codes were written by industry and cover a broad range of services, including social media, search engines, app stores, generative AI services, messaging services as well as online gaming.
Under the specific App Store Code, companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Valve (the owner of Steam) must ensure that games on their stores that are classified R18+ are not able to be purchased or downloaded by Australian children under the age of 18. They also need to ensure that the games available for sale are appropriately rated.
This brings the app stores selling online games into line with the obligations already in place for bricks and mortar stores where 18+ games should only be sold to adults.
Many of the largest app stores have now introduced age assurance for their Australian users, including Microsoft, Sony, Apple, and Google.
App Stores can determine the age assurance measures that they adopt under the Codes, provided that they meet the definition of ‘appropriate age assurance’, as set out in the Head Terms of the Codes, and explained in eSafety’s regulatory guidance.
The Head Terms of the Codes also highlight that service providers should take into account the technical accuracy, robustness, reliability and fairness of the age assurance solution.
eSafety considers service providers should offer a choice of a range of age assurance methods, giving end-users flexibility and agency in choosing methods that best suit their circumstances
For instance, Microsoft allows those purchasing games on their store to verify using a range of methods including email-based verification, facial age estimation, official document scan and credit card.
However, it is ultimately a decision for service providers so long as they comply with the requirements in the Head Terms.
eSafety is engaging with Valve regarding its implementation of the App Code.
