A new day, a new controversy: on the other side of the Atlantic, gamers from the UK have found themselves largely discontent with an update on Steam age verification process: now, the Brits will have to provide a credit card number in order to prove they’re 18 years old.
The objective, of course, is to ensure that the more mature content within the store is only accessible to people of proper age—18 being the minimal number for someone to be considered an adult over there—and a lot of people didn’t take it very well.
And you thought having a gaming PC with a great GPU was your main problem…
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Steam Age Verification Update: What Happened
The scenario
The goal here is simple: access to mature, sexualized and otherwise adult-related content on Steam should be made by people above the age of minority. This is, unequivocally, a good thing. The problem seems to be with how they’re doing it.
You see, it’s been about a month or so that this became a hot topic—we won’t go in much detail here as this would take a lot of time to detail, but it has to do with itch.io’s recent developments on the topic and, surely, big money movers are involved: namely, payment processors, who are basing their demands on UK’s Online Safety Act.
In the Steam Age Verification system’s case, the idea is that the update preemptively avoids running into any snags with the storefront’s payment processors alleged threats: companies such as Visa and Mastercard supposedly approached several digital storefronts—Steam included—and threatened to stop all payments made…unless they remove adult-oriented content.
Since a store can’t make money without, well, actual money being spent on it, most brands relented—and the Steam situation suggests that Valve (Steam’s owner) is not making these changes voluntarily.
Granted, none of this can be effectively proven, so feel free to consider this speculation on our part, but considering how these same companies behaved a few years past (remember the OnlyFans debacle? The one where they began forbidding sexual content then unforbade due to public pressure?), it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to believe said allegations.
At any rate, neither of these companies managed to “remove all adult stuff, everywhere”. But whatever adult stuff remains will not only be under a tighter scrutiny, the mere act of keeping them around will definitely raise some eyebrows.
So, what changes?
Well, in a nutshell:
- Age Verification in the UK: In response to the UK Online Safety Act, Steam now requires UK users to verify their age to access mature-rated content. The method for this verification is adding a valid credit card to their account, as a person must be 18 years old to obtain a credit card in the UK.
- Updated Publishing Rules: Steam added a new rule prohibiting content that violates the standards of its payment processors and card networks, such as Visa and Mastercard. This change has led to the removal of some adult-oriented games from the platform.
Like we said, “nutshell”, as this is just part of the entire situation. The controversy seems to be the possible implications over this. At Reddit, there are at least three threads (this, this and this) discussing the changes—and not a single post shows support or a modicum of approval. On the other end, a Change.org petition has already garnered over 140,000 signatures asking for reversal of said alterations (thanks, The Guardian!).
Based on all information available, the long-term changes on Steam and the broader gaming industry are likely to be significant for developers, users, and the platform’s content—this is what rubbed off on people the wrong way.
For developers, there is likely to be an increase in pressure to navigate stricter rules from both governments and payment processors. The vague nature of the new guidelines on “certain kinds of adult-only content” has created uncertainty, and some developers have already had their games delisted and funds frozen. This could lead to a chilling effect on creators of mature and adult-themed games, especially smaller indie developers, who may self-censor or avoid the platform to protect themselves from financial risk.
When it comes to the users themselves, there’s the entire “privacy” part of the discussion. Any cybersecurity expert will tell you this, but any additional layer of age verification imposed on a platform is also another way for hackers to attack or data to leak—and in the case of the new Steam Age Verification process, we’re talking credit cards, which tend to rank highly on the “stuff you don’t want leaked” list.
The new policy has also raised concerns about censorship, with many users labeling it a “slippery slope.” They argue that by complying with the demands of payment processors, Steam could open the door to future content restrictions. Critics fear that if companies like Mastercard decide to tighten their policies, they could force platforms to make further cuts to their content libraries or enforce stricter age verification rules, potentially impacting games beyond the adult genre.
Furthermore, although these changes pertain specifically to the United Kingdom, there’s always a possibility that this escalates to other countries.
From the platform’s perspective, the influence of outside parties in the new Steam age verification process gives financial institutions a significant amount of control over what content is considered acceptable. This dynamic has led some critics to label the situation as “financial censorship,” and it could result in a more curated and restrictive content library on the platform over time.
Ultimately, the debate is centered on how to best balance the need to protect minors with the right to free expression. While there is broad consensus that children should not have access to adult content, the method of implementation—driven by the leverage of payment processors—is what has created the deep division among stakeholders.
The controversy highlights a power imbalance in the negotiation between financial institutions, digital storefronts, and consumers, and underscores the challenge of implementing new standards in a way that satisfies all parties.
