From November 15, all Steam games sold in Germany will need an Age Rating

One the one hand, I understand it that all future purchases need to comply with laws (and already bought games are unaffected) but on the other hand blocking unrated games is totally overkill. There a tons of game pages that are no longer maintained and only money is exchanged like old indie games. Now it's the responsibility of publishers if they still want to earn money from Germans. At least Steam/Valve offers a survey without the need to go through the USK rating organization. Currently, even bigger titles like PUBG or Rust doesn't have a age rating on their store page.

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).

No, China too. A quick SteamDB search shows if it has strong x content, it's likely blocked in both countries. See for example Seeds of Chaos from a previous GOL article.

However, it should be noted that USK only wants strong verification systems for 18+ genre. So like age verification through state id or similar, but Steam doesn't want to deal with it. Well it's kind of understandable, because of privacy responsibilities.

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.

Obvious solution. Age verification is nothing magical and for a shop the size of Steam it's obviously worth the implementation cost. In Germany, we are used to authenticating against our ID card (which every adult must have), our banking cards or 3rd party authentication services like Postident to register to streaming services or buy alcohol/tobacco/vapes/adult content/knifes/whatever on the net. As Steam is completely account based, they could bind a single validation against the account and be done for.

When I was a child, things were a lot more restrictive then they are now, especially regarding video game content. Digital distribution broke through our laws that were made assuming video games are sold as physical items and only now things start to catch up a little.
There is broad consensus here that children should not get access to violent computer games unless parents decide to allow it. If parents want to allow it, they are free to do so, but if they don't want to allow it, it's not considered their job to invade their kids privacy..


Last edited by const on 2 October 2024 at 3:20 pm UTC

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.

Obvious solution. Age verification is nothing magical and for a shop the size of Steam it's obviously worth the implementation cost. In Germany, we are used to authenticating against our ID card (which every adult must have), our banking cards or 3rd party authentication services like Postident to register to streaming services or buy alcohol/tobacco/vapes/adult content/knifes/whatever on the net. As Steam is completely account based, they could bind a single validation against the account and be done for.

When I was a child, things were a lot more restrictive then they are now, especially regarding video game content. Digital distribution broke through our laws that were made assuming video games are sold as physical items and only now got back to attention.
There is broad consensus here that children should not get access to violent computer games unless parents decide to allow it. If parents want to allow it, they are free to do so, but it's not their job to invade their kids privacy.

I would scream that digital age verification without privacy invasion is hard, but gambling games(the only games covered under the law) already require bank account coupling, so just make people take a loan and immediately pay it off before they can buy the game.
(This is mostly to warn off myself and other techies not to start screaming Privacyyyy)


Last edited by LoudTechie on 2 October 2024 at 3:23 pm UTC

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It's not like there is no way to do it privacy friendly. Valve gift cards are sold in nearly every super market and tobacco shop here. They are usually located directly next to products that already require age validation or even full identification to purchase (like sim cards). I assume it would be possible for them to bind the purchase of one tier of these cards to an age verification at the counter (the cash register would even trigger a small alarm for necessary age validation). That would hardly be considered privacy invading here.


Last edited by const on 2 October 2024 at 3:33 pm UTC

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It's not like there is no way to do it privacy friendly. Valve gift cards are sold in nearly every super market and tobacco shop here. They are usually located directly next to products that already require age validation or even full identification to purchase (like sim cards). I assume it would be possible for them to bind the purchase of one tier of these cards to an age verification at the counter (the cash register would even trigger a small alarm for necessary age validation). That would hardly be considered privacy invading here.

Physical gift cards also go well indeed.
Adding a bank account coupling or a physical confirmation to a transaction that doesn't already have one(yes, this isn't the case for this law) creates a giant privacy and usability problem, because bank accounts and id cards have a lot of personal details like your name, your bank account id, your birthdate, your financial status, your length, etc. and also require quite a lot of work if you live in another country than the developer.
This is as I already stated not a problem for gambling game purchases, which is what the law covers.

Edit:
As such I do agree that in this specific case age verification isn't a problem.
I have a great respect for the german lawmakers for getting such a hard problem well oozed in the law, but that doesn't change the fact that digital id verification without invading various fundamental rights is hard.

I made my previous comment to clarify to myself and other people concerned about the privacy risks of such a law that in this specific case this isn't a problem.


Last edited by LoudTechie on 2 October 2024 at 4:18 pm UTC

This is the regional pricing thing all over again. I can see many games being delisted for Germany, because so many companies aren't going to go back to older games and set those ratings.

Valve games also appear to be affected:
- Artifact
- Alien Swarm
- Half-Life: Blue Shift-
- Team Fortress Classic
- Aperture Desk Job and The Lab also have no age rating.
- And of course Deadlock doesn't have a rating yet either.

A German magazine (Heise) found the following indie games while loosely browsing:
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Papers, Please
- Pathologic
- Pathologic 2
- Undertale
- Minit
- Cave Story
- FEZ
- Slay the Spire

I also found some painful things in my library without age rating:
- Almost everything from Japanese gaming machine veteran CAVE (best known for "Mushihimesama")
- Sky Force
- The Banner Saga
- The Binding of Isaac
- Dino Run DX
- Don't Starve Together
- Invisible, Inc.
- LIMBO
- Pillars of Eternity
- Poly Bridge
- Punch Club
- Pyre
- Raft
- RPG Maker MV
- RUINER
- Rust
- Them's Fightin' Herds
- Tooth and Tail
- Trine Enchanted Edition
- Volcanoids

Fun fact: Universe Sandbox has an age rating of 12 years and over in Germany. Reason: violence.

They will decriminalize child pornography like a bunch of sick fucks (yes, the German government seriously got away with that)

They haven't. What they have done is gone back to the same minimum sentencing for distribution as they had before June 2021 when they increased it (and this is due to them having seen negative consequences of that increase).


Last edited by F.Ultra on 2 October 2024 at 7:17 pm UTC

I don't understand the hostility to this.

As soon as governments are involved, some people just get their panties in a twist.
It is an automatism, I don't think they can help it, nor do they think about it.
So far, so normal.

Generally, I think this is a reasonable requirement, age restrictions and content declarations should be on store pages - so people can check BEFORE they buy.
And of course, an age requirement for video games makes sense to begin with, I'm somewhat surprised Steam did not already do that. Or does it?
I'm way out of the age for that to matter, so no clue lol...

However, the way they go about this with already released games retroactively requiring declaration or not be listed at all has the distinct taste of a "politician's idea" - something that was simply not thought through with its practical implications.

I'd just set all games that haven't been declared by whoever is responsible to be 18+ and be done with it.

This is the regional pricing thing all over again. I can see many games being delisted for Germany, because so many companies aren't going to go back to older games and set those ratings.

Nah, Germany is a big enough market to care, and I do hope Valve will pester devs/publishers until they take action.
If a game sells at all, devs will care. And if it doesn't sell at all - well then nobody is going to miss anything.

As national laws (especially from bigger EU countries) tend to become broader laws in many cases, I'd also expect other countries to follow suit here, sooner or later, adapting something similar.

I have no doubt the vast majority of devs/publishers will be very quick to comply here.
I mean, come on, it's not like something impossible is demanded here. Fill out a questionnaire, done. This is easier than uploading a patch for a game.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 2 October 2024 at 8:15 pm UTC

If console games can be given age ratings (PEGI) then I see no reason why it could not be done for PC.

What would be needed though is an age verification body e,g PEGI to carry out the work. The best way to do this is to give any unrated game an 18 cert until its been reviewed and given the appropriate age rating.

I think this is will likely spread to other jurisdictions and become more widespread over time.

What would be needed though is an age verification body e,g PEGI to carry out the work. The best way to do this is to give any unrated game an 18 cert until its been reviewed and given the appropriate age rating.

PEGI covers a good chunk of Europe, but not Germany. They've got their own USK. Besides, Valve have already streamlined the process by not requiring an official rating (which costs time and money) and offering a single questionnaire.

Of course, developers are free to get a USK rating as well like the FAQ excerpt in the article says, which should be useful if the game is sold in Germany via other platforms or physical stores. But that takes some time and even the minimum cost of 1200 € (or 300 € for expansions of, game collections with, or "games equivalent to" already rated titles) can be a lot to some indies.


Last edited by tuubi on 3 October 2024 at 6:29 am UTC

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Can I see somehow which games are invisible to me because of that?

On steamdb.info for sure. It's not yet known how exactly it will look, but probably games will get some new key like 'de_rating' and it will be searchable.

For example here are all games that have a key "foo" with the value "bar" (yes, that's actually a thing ):
https://steamdb.info/search/?a=app_keynames&type=-1&keyname=338&operator=1&keyvalue=bar

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'd just set all games that haven't been declared by whoever is responsible to be 18+ and be done with it.

The highest ratings in Germany are unrated and indexed (well they could get completely banned, too). That is 18+ but with additional constraints, e.g. public display is not allowed. It's up to Valve to finally implement age verification.

Besides, Valve have already streamlined the process by not requiring an official rating (which costs time and money) and offering a single questionnaire.

I believe that questionnaire is from the IARC. Valve couldn't streamline the process unless it was officially allowed.

The most idiotic thing about the system: In Germany, a classification only applies per platform.

So there are glaring differences between EGS and Steam, for example. Games that are offered in the EGS from the age of 16 appear on Steam from the age of 6 and vice versa. Such blatant deviations mainly affect small indie titles. But it can also happen with larger titles.

Smaller deviations, on the other hand, are the rule rather than the exception. That's why Hollow Knight, for example, is rated 12+ on the Switch, while it is recommended on Steam (Deck) from the age of 6. Alien Isolation is recommended on Steam from 18, on the Switch from 16. The list could go on and on.


Last edited by 1xok on 3 October 2024 at 12:13 pm UTC

The most idiotic thing about the system: In Germany, a classification only applies per platform.

So there are glaring differences between EGS and Steam, for example. Games that are offered in the EGS from the age of 16 appear on Steam from the age of 6 and vice versa. Such blatant deviations mainly affect small indie titles. But it can also happen with larger titles.

Smaller deviations, on the other hand, are the rule rather than the exception. That's why Hollow Knight, for example, is rated 12+ on the Switch, while it is recommended on Steam (Deck) from the age of 6. Alien Isolation is recommended on Steam from 18, on the Switch from 16. The list could go on and on.

That's because the platforms are stricter than the law.
The law basically states:
if gambling 18+, if not I don't care.

Each of the platforms has their own complicated rating system based on whether it contains violence, sex, drugs, etc. and they've connected it with the new German law.

EDIT:
I now realize this is probably smart.
The Germans might not be strict enough for it.
These platforms obey all enforcable laws.
If this German law is a success many different countries will introduce comparable laws, each with their local wishes:
England will limit sex in games sold to minors, France will limit violence and the USA drugs.


Last edited by LoudTechie on 3 October 2024 at 7:58 pm UTC

Can I see somehow which games are invisible to me because of that?

On steamdb.info for sure. It's not yet known how exactly it will look, but probably games will get some new key like 'de_rating' and it will be searchable.

For example here are all games that have a key "foo" with the value "bar" (yes, that's actually a thing ):
https://steamdb.info/search/?a=app_keynames&type=-1&keyname=338&operator=1&keyvalue=bar

There is already the restricted_countries key with SteamDB. They already use it for adult only like corn or too much violence games like Agony.

Another ridiculous law made by pathetic tyrants. When will we stop these clowns I wonder?

Another ridiculous law made by pathetic tyrants. When will we stop these clowns I wonder?

Or maybe, many people are agreeing with this law. (And most people don't care for video games, especially beyond Bejeweled, in the first place.)

Another ridiculous law made by pathetic tyrants. When will we stop these clowns I wonder?

No, just no. Limiting access to violent games to adults is very very old and pretty undisputed law here in Germany, predating digital stores like Steam by decades. Digital stores used loopholes to not comply and it's a joke these loopholes are only now closed.
There are thousands of online stores that already comply and it's up to them to decide how to implement it. As they already sell vouchers in stores, there's not even a need to send private information over the net. Buying a voucher could be implemented as a verification system, equivalent to buying booze or cigarettes.


Last edited by const on 10 October 2024 at 10:27 am UTC