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.
about 3 hours ago
Quoting: kerossinThank 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.
Quoting: EikeQuoting: 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.
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.
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).
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