Steam to stop selling games without age rating in Germany
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Loading... - albert charlotte
- 07 Oct 2024
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Starting on November 15, 2024, Steam will no longer display or sell games in Germany unless they have a valid age rating. This new rule comes in response to German laws, which mandate that video games must be rated before they can be sold in the country. The law affects both new and existing games on the platform.
In Germany, games must be rated by Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK), the country's state video game ratings authority, similar to how the ESRB operates in the United States.
These ratings guide consumers on the appropriate age group for the game's content and have long been a requirement for retail sales. However, the shift to digital distribution, which has largely replaced physical game sales, brings new challenges for game platforms like Steam.
To help developers comply, Valve—the company behind Steam—has introduced its own internal rating system. Developers can now complete a questionnaire that will allow Valve to assign age ratings to their games. While this may streamline the process, developers must still be cautious, as certain types of content—such as Nazi propaganda or anti-Semitic hate speech—are explicitly banned by German law, and complying with age ratings alone does not guarantee approval for sale in the country.
This policy highlights how companies like Valve must navigate complex global regulations to operate in different markets. Developers are now faced with additional hurdles to ensure their games meet local legal standards, especially in countries like Germany that have strict content laws.
