Earlier in 2024, Valve announced that games being sold in Germany were going to require an Age Rating to continue to be sold, and now there's a deadline.
An update was posted to Valve's official Steamworks documentation (thanks SteamDB), that now makes it clear that game developers have a deadline of November 15th 2024 to ensure an Age Rating is provided. If one is missing, from that date the games simply won't be displayed to Steam customers in Germany.
Developers will need to "truthfully complete Steam's built-in content questionnaire and publish the results". Thankfully Valve has a built-in system for this, so it shouldn't take long for developers to do.
From Valve's FAQ:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.Q. When do I need to complete this questionnaire by?
A. You can complete the questionnaire at any time. Games without a German age rating will be hidden from customers in Germany starting November 15, 2024.
Q. If I fill out the questionnaire, is my game guaranteed to remain available in Germany?
A. No. There are certain kinds of content that are not allowed for sale to customers in Germany. If present in your game, this content must be disclosed in the content questionnaire. Please complete the questionnaire completely and truthfully. Steam will automatically generate an appropriate rating for your game in Germany. If the generated rating allows, your game will automatically become visible to customers in Germany.
Q. What if my game has a USK rating?
A. If your game has been issued an age rating by going through the rating process directly with USK, you may also enter that information within the store page editor for your game. This is rare. If you do not have an agreement directly with USK, do not enter a USK rating.
Last edited by Stella on 2 October 2024 at 8:19 am UTC
And they still do not bother implementing a mechanism to verify your age as a customer…
Quoting: StellaIs this a joke or something? How can they force everyone to comply to this retroactively when many game studios are long since defunct? What the fuck? Do they have any idea how many old games would simply become unpurchaseable because of this?
How about setting all games that are not getting set anything by developers/publishers to 18, the maximum restriction age? Would be far from being unpurchaseable...
Quoting: StellaIs this a joke or something? How can they force everyone to comply to this retroactively when many game studios are long since defunct? What the fuck? Do they have any idea how many old games would simply become unpurchaseable because of this?
Someone is getting paid for the games purchased on Steam, be it a third party publisher or whoever. There's no "abandonware" on Steam. Every product on there is supposed to have an active owner. But sure, this will probably hide a bunch of games from German Steam users simply because a developer/publisher/whoever is in charge of a game doesn't fill the questionnaire.
As to how they can do this, I suppose any sovereign nation is allowed to decide what is legal and what is not, and any business operating in that market will have to comply or get out. And seeing as it's a relatively large market in this case, most devs/publishers will find it in their best interest to go answer those questions.
Quoting: EikeHow about setting all games that are not getting set anything by developers/publishers to 18, the maximum restriction age? Would be far from being unpurchaseable...I suppose that still wouldn't fulfil the requirement of accurately identifying the "kinds of content" that are not legal in Germany. Steam would have to assume that every game contains such content and hide everything by default anyway.
Vortex_Acherontic Oct 2
Quoting: StellaIs this a joke or something? How can they force everyone to comply to this retroactively when many game studios are long since defunct? What the fuck? Do they have any idea how many old games would simply become unpurchaseable because of this?
That’s the German government. Or at least those who make these kind of final decisions. They don't know shit and yet make the lives of everyone else more miserable.
But I question, why they suddenly feel like taking actions. It is not that the birthrates in Germany have increased and there are more kids to protect these days nor has it done any damage to the previous generation growing up with out those silly restrictions.
At least I see myself as a pretty decent and normal person without any mental issues because of games.
But more funny though is that Gog does not have this. While there are already games unpurchaseable in Germany, especially if they are rated as "adult content" you can't buy them on Steam unless they are reviewed by some federal agency or something idk. Yet on GOG I can by the very same game just fine.
Which makes this silly restrictions just another dumpster fire of "Oh we need to do something so we can say we did something." and then take random uninformed actions.
It's kinda like a broken road. But in stead of fixing it they put on signs "Warning broken street" and call it a day.
Last edited by Vortex_Acherontic on 2 October 2024 at 8:54 am UTC
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: EikeHow about setting all games that are not getting set anything by developers/publishers to 18, the maximum restriction age? Would be far from being unpurchaseable...I suppose that still wouldn't fulfil the requirement of accurately identifying the "kinds of content" that are not legal in Germany. Steam would have to assume that every game contains such content and hide everything by default anyway.
Age restriction and actual illegal content are independent, and to the best of my knowledge (unlike AFAIK the USA?), they do not need to state reasons for the age restriction (like alcohol, drugs, violence, whatever). So I think this would fly.
Vortex_Acherontic Oct 2
Quoting: KlaasOh wow. The next punishment for customers in Germany.
And they still do not bother implementing a mechanism to verify your age as a customer…
Well spain is on to something with their "Porn Pass" which might become a EU norm if I understood it right.
So you won't be able to watch any adult content in the EU without verify your age using an app. Ofc all "anonymous" and "the websites only get a yes / no feedback" and of course this is not tracked either.
Judging by previous actions of governments I highly doubt this but we'll see.
Anyhow I can imagine if this thing once is ready game stores need to implement this as well.
Last edited by Vortex_Acherontic on 2 October 2024 at 9:03 am UTC
Quoting: Vortex_AcheronticYet on GOG I can by the very same game just fine.Some of those are clearly mistakes – and there are some in the other way.
Quoting: Vortex_AcheronticIt is not that the birthrates in Germany have increased
Not that is has got to do anything with anything, but until Covid, they actually did. 2016 and 2021 have seen the highest birth rates in 50 years. (Having tried to find a day care in 2018, this didn't surprise me.)
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