Steam Blocks Access to Adult Games in Some Regions Requiring Age Verification

Players strongly dislike this practice.

Valve recently introduced mandatory age verification for users in Steam and restricted access to purchasing and viewing mature games (rated R18+). The system was launched in Australia following the passage of an amendment to the country’s Online Safety Act. Minors under the age of 16 are banned from having accounts on certain platforms.

To complete the adult verification process on Steam, Valve now requires users to link a bank card to their account. Debit cards do not work, as a credit card is required (in Australia, debit versions are also available to minors).

The card must remain permanently linked to the profile. If it is removed, the adult status is reset, and access to viewing and purchasing mature games is blocked again. Mature games include not only pornographic projects, but also titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA V.

Judging by user feedback, the launch repeated what happened in the United Kingdom, where a similar age verification system was also rolled out. Due to a bug, some debit card holders successfully linked their cards to their accounts and verified their age, even though that should not have been possible.