Valve has announced to developers and publishers that from November 15th they will no longer display games on their platform that do not have an age rating.
The reason for this step is simply the current legal situation in Germany:
“The German regulatory authorities have determined that all games must have an age rating in order to be offered to German customers on Steam.”
In order to be available on Steam in Germany, a game must have some form of age rating. However, this does not necessarily have to come officially from the USK.
Instead, it is enough to subject yourself to Steam’s own rating system. To do this, developers have to fill out a questionnaire and Valve then decides whether a release can be granted or not, taking into account customer feedback and the opinion of the in-house review teams.
If a game has content that is not permitted in Germany, then filling out the questionnaire will of course no longer help.
“To ensure that a game is for sale in Germany, you must truthfully fill out the content questionnaire integrated into Steam and submit the results.”
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Apart from applicable laws, the compulsory age rating is of course also a further step towards family friendliness and protection of minors. Steam recently revised its family features and allowed the creation of family groups.
Up to six Steam accounts can connect to form a family and thus gain access to all games from all accounts, as long as developers support this feature. In addition, children’s accounts can now also be created. Playing time can be limited here or access to certain games can be restricted.
Fans of Baldur’s Gate III have recently been able to look forward to official mod support. This slightly different trailer presents the possibilities.
