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.
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Is 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?
Last edited by Stella on 2 October 2024 at 8:19 am UTC
Last edited by Stella on 2 October 2024 at 8:19 am UTC
11 Likes, Who?
Oh wow. The next punishment for customers in Germany.
And they still do not bother implementing a mechanism to verify your age as a customer…
And they still do not bother implementing a mechanism to verify your age as a customer…
9 Likes, Who?
Thank god for this. People actually had to look at the game and had to think if a game is appropriate for them, the horror is over!
3 Likes, Who?
Is 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...
7 Likes, Who?
Is 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.
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...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.
6 Likes, Who?
Vortex_Acherontic Oct 2
Is 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
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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...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.
1 Likes, Who?
Vortex_Acherontic Oct 2
Oh 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
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Yet 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.
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It 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.)
1 Likes, Who?
I don't understand the hostility to this. As far as I can tell it's like complaining about food manufacturers being forced to add ingredients and nutritional information to foodstuffs. The only people who should be complaining is businesses who want to mislead their customers as to the content of their product.
I know you're being sarcastic, but "people actually had to look at the game" is hardly accurate. In many cases, people would have to play the entire game themselves before they know if it contains inappropriate content, or at best find someone who has (note: most game reviewers never play a game in its entirety). Not everything contained in a game is written on the back of the metaphorical box.
Which is exactly what this requirement does - forces game companies to provide a "back of the box" summary of potentially problematic content, so that people can be informed about what they'll be getting before they get it.
Thank god for this. People actually had to look at the game and had to think if a game is appropriate for them, the horror is over!
I know you're being sarcastic, but "people actually had to look at the game" is hardly accurate. In many cases, people would have to play the entire game themselves before they know if it contains inappropriate content, or at best find someone who has (note: most game reviewers never play a game in its entirety). Not everything contained in a game is written on the back of the metaphorical box.
Which is exactly what this requirement does - forces game companies to provide a "back of the box" summary of potentially problematic content, so that people can be informed about what they'll be getting before they get it.
6 Likes, Who?
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...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.
According to the article, this questionnaire covers both, and the end result is the same. The age rating and content restrictions are two separate things, but both need to be actively confirmed by the seller. If a developer says that their game is appropriate for all ages, and it looks like it's a minimalistic puzzle game that isn't likely to break any laws, there still needs to be a formal disclosure from the devs before Valve is allowed to offer that game to customers in the German market. Just some classic red tape for you.
1 Likes, Who?
I don't think there's anything unreasonable about requiring devs to disclose this information going forward. But I definitely see the concern about older titles vanishing if devs aren't paying attention to get their paperwork in order. The law in question should've been written to only apply to new titles released after the law goes into effect, but grandfather in legacy content.
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Can I see somehow which games are invisible to me because of that?
1 Likes, Who?
Sigh. Yeah, give it to us, we need the pain. Us Gerrrmans need to be protected, we have German Angst!
Man, why can´t we just have Eikes proposal? Auto-Age 18 for nonresponders and thats it.
We are already protected from all the pr0n-games already (as the only country i believe).
Man, why can´t we just have Eikes proposal? Auto-Age 18 for nonresponders and thats it.
We are already protected from all the pr0n-games already (as the only country i believe).
2 Likes, Who?
In many cases, people would have to play the entire game themselves before they know if it contains inappropriate contentWhat content, in a game, is simply "inappropriate" universally and for everyone?
The motivation for this appears to be that most games randomly contain nuggets of Objectively Harmful Content that Evil Publishers are trying to mislead the public about. Since we aren't allowed to ban them, we can only force them to disclose on the cover that they Literally Cause Cancer.
In reality, some people don't like some content sometimes. But anyone could dislike anything, with no consistency or reason. There is no way for any work of art to please everybody, and there is no way to predict exactly who will have some objection. The real problem is that some people promote their personal dislikes to a political cause. If they cannot simply ban it, they will apply a stigma to it so that it is effectively boycotted by people who don't actually know anything about it.
Most of us could see how "inappropriate" it is to do this to novels. Why is this kind of political censorship accepted for games?
Last edited by CGull on 2 October 2024 at 1:32 pm UTC
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Absolut overkill by Steam (or the legislator). It would be still less disruptive if they asume an age restriction of 18, which would be the harshest possible restriction.
3 Likes, Who?
Why is this kind of political censorship accepted for games?
It would be prudent to wait for confirmation on the exact types of prohibited content included in the questionnaire before knee-jerking about censorship. Any developer with a game on Steam should be able to check it out and report back. We've got several here on GOL.
Or someone fluent in German legalese can probably dig out the relevant laws and regulations. After all, that's what Valve has to comply with here.
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What content, in a game, is simply "inappropriate" universally and for everyone?
Don't know where you are from (guess US), but over here in Europe youth protection laws with regard to content are a common thing and not perceived as a bad thing.
As a parent I can say that it is possible "to clear" the content for you 6yo Child, but not for your 13yo teenage daughter. To do that i would need 36 hours in a day.
2 Likes, Who?
Why is this kind of political censorship accepted for games?
It would be prudent to wait for confirmation on the exact types of prohibited content included in the questionnaire before knee-jerking about censorship. Any developer with a game on Steam should be able to check it out and report back. We've got several here on GOL.
Or someone fluent in German legalese can probably dig out the relevant laws and regulations. After all, that's what Valve has to comply with here.
My german is okay, but I'm lazy, so here is a link to a bunch of licensed legal professionals giving the answer.
Basically the law is an anti-gambling law.
It actually takes a quite narrow view of gambling.
Edit:
Warning though lootboxes fall under lottery.
So feel free to put sex, violence, drugs, hate, crime, etc. In your game, but if you want to insert gambling mechanics you've to apply for a license.
Last edited by LoudTechie on 2 October 2024 at 3:15 pm UTC
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