German Store Restrictions - We Need a Better Solution

[flyomotive]

I'm writing as a dedicated Steam user of over 10 years, with more than 1000 games and several thousands of Euros spent on the platform.

Steam has always been my go-to platform for gaming - it's user-friendly, innovative, and has consistently put users first. However, this month an incredibly frustrating situation has come about in regards to German regulations and Steam's missing age verification system:

Recently, a significant number of games have become completely inaccessible in the German Steam store due to missing age ratings. This affects both upcoming releases many have been excited about, like Subnautica 2 to name only one example, as well as recently released titles like Flight of Nova, an impressive space flight sim that I can no longer even view in the store. Even beloved older titles like Animal Super Squad and The Banner Saga have disappeared. Given that their developers already had months to fill out the Age Rating survey, it's unlikely that it will happen at all for lots of such games.

What's particularly concerning is that smaller and older games are disproportionately affected - and these are often the titles where Steam is the only platform to play them! The inability to even discover which games are affected, as they're completely removed from view, makes this situation even more frustrating.

While I understand that Valve is forced to comply with the short-sighted German regulations, the current implementation feels overly restrictive, especially given the robust age verification infrastructure already available in Germany and the EU (digital ID, passport, Postident, etc.).

It's worth noting that Steam has previously faced fines for breaching EU geo-blocking regulations (Regulation 2018/302), though I understand this is a complex situation.

Many of us would gladly verify our age through any of these established methods to regain access to the full Steam store.

Questions for Valve:

- Are there plans to implement an age verification solution?
- Could you share any timeline for addressing these issues?
- Is there any way for users to help expedite this process or verify their age on an individual basis?

Right now, many of us are forced to use other platforms just to stay informed about games, browse an uncensored storefront, track wishlisted games, and buy and play older games - something that is impossible for Steam-exclusive titles. There has got to be a better solution.

Thanks for your concern.

[flyomotive]

To add just one comment to the insanity of these rules: In 4 years, my Steam account will be 18 years old! Old enough to legally browse and play all games, even in gErMaNy. For many users, their account is already over 18. Locking out these incredibly loyal and clearly of-age users feels so unnecessary. I get that compliance is a complicated topic, but as I said, there has got to be a better way.

[Dan5000]

Laws for online content have been stupid in germany for a while now and only getting worse. However, lots of developers simply didn't notice that it became mandatory. I had 25 games on my wishlist suddenly locked away, but 4 did already get an agerating and popped back up. I would imagine that many others will follow in the next days and weeks and in the end, we'll probably only end up missing whats already been blocked anyway. The adult games.

[miamew3]

Unfortunately it is up to the developer of those games, they are the ones who need to update them with age restrictions.

Steam would have giving developers plenty of notice that games would need to be updated to comply with the new laws in Germany. So it is all comes down to how fast game developers reacted to those changes.

I would imaging a lot of old games will never get updated to the new laws, especially if those developers are no longer working anymore.

[Gwarsbane]

Originally posted by flyomotive:

I'm writing as a dedicated Steam user of over 10 years, with more than 1000 games and several thousands of Euros spent on the platform.

Steam has always been my go-to platform for gaming - it's user-friendly, innovative, and has consistently put users first. However, this month an incredibly frustrating situation has come about in regards to German regulations and Steam's missing age verification system:

Recently, a significant number of games have become completely inaccessible in the German Steam store due to missing age ratings. This affects both upcoming releases many have been excited about, like Subnautica 2 to name only one example, as well as recently released titles like Flight of Nova, an impressive space flight sim that I can no longer even view in the store. Even beloved older titles like Animal Super Squad and The Banner Saga have disappeared. Given that their developers already had months to fill out the Age Rating survey, it's unlikely that it will happen at all for lots of such games.

What's particularly concerning is that smaller and older games are disproportionately affected - and these are often the titles where Steam is the only platform to play them! The inability to even discover which games are affected, as they're completely removed from view, makes this situation even more frustrating.

While I understand that Valve is forced to comply with the short-sighted German regulations, the current implementation feels overly restrictive, especially given the robust age verification infrastructure already available in Germany and the EU (digital ID, passport, Postident, etc.).

It's worth noting that Steam has previously faced fines for breaching EU geo-blocking regulations (Regulation 2018/302), though I understand this is a complex situation.

Many of us would gladly verify our age through any of these established methods to regain access to the full Steam store.

Questions for Valve:

- Are there plans to implement an age verification solution?
- Could you share any timeline for addressing these issues?
- Is there any way for users to help expedite this process or verify their age on an individual basis?

Right now, many of us are forced to use other platforms just to stay informed about games, browse an uncensored storefront, track wishlisted games, and buy and play older games - something that is impossible for Steam-exclusive titles. There has got to be a better solution.

Thanks for your concern.

Originally posted by flyomotive:

To add just one comment to the insanity of these rules: In 4 years, my Steam account will be 18 years old! Old enough to legally browse and play all games, even in gErMaNy. For many users, their account is already over 18. Locking out these incredibly loyal and clearly of-age users feels so unnecessary. I get that compliance is a complicated topic, but as I said, there has got to be a better way.

Just because your Steam account will be over 18 doesn't mean the person at the keyboard using it is.

If you want to get rid of/change stupid laws, contact your law makers. They are the only ones who can do it.

Valve has to follow the laws or not be allowed at all. As mentioned in MANY other threads on this topic, the reason why Valve doesn't bother with making sure adults in Germany can buy adult games is more then likely because they don't see any profit in it, that it would cost them more money to do it then it would bring in.

Valve follows the laws so that they don't get sued. There is nothing that says they must do everything or else not sell in that area, so they do enough to make money.

There are people who would sue Valve for lots of money just because little johnny seen something on there that they don't like. People have been sued for some really dumb reasons... why do you think there are warning for toasters and curling irons and stuff to not submerge in water... common sense is not so common when it comes to greedy people.

So more then likely, if Valve doesn't see that they will profit from it or even will lose money doing it, they will more then likely not do something and that includes putting something in Steam to allow adults in Germany to verify their age, specially if those laws still say if even one kid gets through they could face strong fines.


Again... if you want things changed, go bug your law makers to change the laws.


Oh and Valve is not going to verify anything for the developers/publishers/IP owners. Thats all up to them if they want to verify the games for the German system.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by flyomotive:

To add just one comment to the insanity of these rules: In 4 years, my Steam account will be 18 years old! Old enough to legally browse and play all games, even in gErMaNy. For many users, their account is already over 18. Locking out these incredibly loyal and clearly of-age users feels so unnecessary. I get that compliance is a complicated topic, but as I said, there has got to be a better way.

The age of the account doesn't mean the person using it is over the age.

Also AFAIK with the changes that were done all that is required for the games to show up in the german store is the game developer has to fill out the freaking survey and rate their game and/or get it an official age rating.

[flyomotive]

I am well aware that a very old account is not enough to pass the age verification required by law. I just mentioned it to highlight the absurdity of the situation.
I also know that Valve didn't choose this path and that they can't just "not comply"... I made that quite clear in my post.

However, any expectation of this law changing is completely naive, no one cares about a few gamers being sad about some old indie games being region locked. Most people will not notice. The only way out of this situation is Valve implementing an age verification system, hence why I made the post.

For me, the most frustrating part is unreleased games being hidden, such as my example Subnautica 2. For those it's probably too early to make a definitive age rating assessment. Such games being hidden makes the Steam store useless for browsing and wishlisting upcoming games.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by flyomotive:

The only way out of this situation is Valve implementing an age verification system, hence why I made the post.

Valve knows this. Them choosing the route they've chosen tells you how high "implementing an age verification system" is on their priority list.

[AROCK!!!]

Valve only cares about money, so until they start losing enough to notice, nothing will happen.
And BTW, if STEAM actually did, as you say, "consistently put users first", this issue would not, not would it ever had existed.

In the meantime, you can get keys from numerous sites, and you can also order games from outside Germany, which is completely legal.
Even if a game is indexed, it is still legal to own and play, it's just not legal to sell it here.

I used to buy from a store in the UK.


The law governing this is not, "short sighted", it's there to protect the youth. Hundreds of other stores manage to implement an age verification, even small businesses, so Valve not doing it is simply because they do not care about us...until as I said, they see they are losing money, then Valve will do something, but it will be because of money, not the customers.

[Devil Daughter]

The problem for many indy devs is that getting an age rating costs money. If the game isn't profitable or if they don't feel like spending money on an older game that isn't getting any new sales; they would be paying for an age rating and simply losing money.

For large publishers the fee isn't huge. But for an indy dev that might only make a few hundred dollars from their games, it's silly to spend thousands on getting an age rating and lose all of their profits by doing so.

Germany making the age ratings mandatory has basically just shut out a large number of indy devs from ever publishing there again.
---

It gets monumentally worse when you realize that the companies that rate these games demand multiple fees. Every version of the game has to be paid for, standard? deluxe? premium? that's three fees. Game released on steam and consoles? Pay for ratings on each console and steam separate. Multiple regions? Yea, you pay for ratings in each region separate.

Making age ratings a requirement is basically extortion. The bigger companies will pay up on newer games like they always do. But older games and indy devs have to decide if the costs are worth the sales potential. It's the same cost evaluation they have to go through when deciding on language choices. Is it worth paying thousands of dollars to have your game translated into a language where it might not sell enough to make back a profit?

Is it worth paying money to have your game rated just to make make a few more sales in overly strict regions like Germany?

Complain to the German government and get them to change their laws.

[Mia]

Originally posted by Devil Daughter:

The problem for many indy devs is that getting an age rating costs money. If the game isn't profitable or if they don't feel like spending money on an older game that isn't getting any new sales; they would be paying for an age rating and simply losing money.

For large publishers the fee isn't huge. But for an indy dev that might only make a few hundred dollars from their games, it's silly to spend thousands on getting an age rating and lose all of their profits by doing so.

Germany making the age ratings mandatory has basically just shut out a large number of indy devs from ever publishing there again.
---

It gets monumentally worse when you realize that the companies that rate these games demand multiple fees. Every version of the game has to be paid for, standard? deluxe? premium? that's three fees. Game released on steam and consoles? Pay for ratings on each console and steam separate. Multiple regions? Yea, you pay for ratings in each region separate.

Making age ratings a requirement is basically extortion. The bigger companies will pay up on newer games like they always do. But older games and indy devs have to decide if the costs are worth the sales potential. It's the same cost evaluation they have to go through when deciding on language choices. Is it worth paying thousands of dollars to have your game translated into a language where it might not sell enough to make back a profit?

Is it worth paying money to have your game rated just to make make a few more sales in overly strict regions like Germany?

Complain to the German government and get them to change their laws.

This is only half true. The USK has unnecessary high fees, this is correct. However Valve provides a content survey to put an age rating themself that is completely free and fulfills the requirement. Overall tho it's more an issue with Valve to only implement a half-assed system that doesn't even work right and Valve has been asked for at least 14 years to add a proper verification to alleviate the issue that is now happening. Valve tried to sit it out, providing always the same copy&paste excuse. The law itself isn't even that bad but the way it is enforced is absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on both ends. Trying to defend Valve here definitely is the wrong way because it shows that they don't care about their customers at all as long as the flow of money is right and that they definitely will go the same route for any other country.

[Sazzouu]

Just to leave my two cents as a long term collector:

Lots of developer studios shut down or the people in charge deceased but their products remain on Steam ever since. These games will forever be gone for Germany now.

So this whole topic is not just about „developers only need to label their games propperly“ but it is a topic about a general necessity for a proper age verifictation system which was due very long time ago. Not only for Germany but for literally any country with regulations of some sort based on age - which are more than one might think.

On average for the past 10 years I‘ve been spending roughly $1000 per sale. This winter will probably be the very first time the sale starts with an amount X of money and ends with the exact same amount X. Not because there is nothing to buy anymore but this year is the very first year Valve actively decided to go the profitable anti-consumer route rather than standing up for their users since I‘ve been using this plattform.

[Devil Daughter]

Originally posted by Sazzouu:

Just to leave my two cents as a long term collector:

Lots of developer studios shut down or the people in charge deceased but their products remain on Steam ever since. These games will forever be gone for Germany now.

So this whole topic is not just about „developers only need to label their games propperly“ but it is a topic about a general necessity for a proper age verifictation system which was due very long time ago. Not only for Germany but for literally any country with regulations of some sort based on age - which are more than one might think.

On average for the past 10 years I‘ve been spending roughly $1000 per sale. This winter will probably be the very first time the sale starts with an amount X of money and ends with the exact same amount X. Not because there is nothing to buy anymore but this year is the very first year Valve actively decided to go the profitable anti-consumer route rather than standing up for their users since I‘ve been using this plattform.

How is Valve supposed to solve this?

You want them to ignore German law and leave the games up for sale?

What Germany did is basically extortion. Not only does it cost money to get a game rated, you have to pay for each version of a game and for every region, and for every platform. On top of that, Germany decided to have its own rating system and not allow the ratings from other regions so you have to pay Germany specifically even if you've already paid for a rating somewhere else. This is why even games that are free in other countries often have a fee in Germany, because Germany wants to be paid for every game published just to have a rating.

Valve leaves it up to a publisher whether to get their games rated.

If Valve itself paid for every version of every game to get rated into every ratings system in every region that's literally 10's of thousands of games potentially adding up to 100's of millions, potentially over a billion dollars in costs. Add to that the screening costs to pay someone to evaluate each of the games in order for Valve to even be able to submit a product for review that they themselves didn't create.

You should be blaming the German government for this, not Valve for complying with the law.

Germany just created an extortion racket, Valve simply allows publishers to decide whether they want to pay the extra expense of getting their games rated or not before publishing.

[Devil Daughter]

Originally posted by ミア・フラフボール:

Originally posted by Devil Daughter:

The problem for many indy devs is that getting an age rating costs money. If the game isn't profitable or if they don't feel like spending money on an older game that isn't getting any new sales; they would be paying for an age rating and simply losing money.

For large publishers the fee isn't huge. But for an indy dev that might only make a few hundred dollars from their games, it's silly to spend thousands on getting an age rating and lose all of their profits by doing so.

Germany making the age ratings mandatory has basically just shut out a large number of indy devs from ever publishing there again.
---

It gets monumentally worse when you realize that the companies that rate these games demand multiple fees. Every version of the game has to be paid for, standard? deluxe? premium? that's three fees. Game released on steam and consoles? Pay for ratings on each console and steam separate. Multiple regions? Yea, you pay for ratings in each region separate.

Making age ratings a requirement is basically extortion. The bigger companies will pay up on newer games like they always do. But older games and indy devs have to decide if the costs are worth the sales potential. It's the same cost evaluation they have to go through when deciding on language choices. Is it worth paying thousands of dollars to have your game translated into a language where it might not sell enough to make back a profit?

Is it worth paying money to have your game rated just to make make a few more sales in overly strict regions like Germany?

Complain to the German government and get them to change their laws.

This is only half true. The USK has unnecessary high fees, this is correct. However Valve provides a content survey to put an age rating themself that is completely free and fulfills the requirement. Overall tho it's more an issue with Valve to only implement a half-assed system that doesn't even work right and Valve has been asked for at least 14 years to add a proper verification to alleviate the issue that is now happening. Valve tried to sit it out, providing always the same copy&paste excuse. The law itself isn't even that bad but the way it is enforced is absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on both ends. Trying to defend Valve here definitely is the wrong way because it shows that they don't care about their customers at all as long as the flow of money is right and that they definitely will go the same route for any other country.

This isn't accurate and you're not understanding what Valve provides. The survey that is free only sorts the ratings for you and spits out the application for all the various regions at once so it makes it easy to apply for all the ratings at one time. The only free ratings after that are for regions without their own ratings system. For the regions like Germany that have their own requirements, you pay for each of those after the survey.

Valve provides a free way to get all the ratings done at once and the rating is valid in regions that don't have their own system. The problem is a place like Germany still requires additional payment to use that in their region.

You've completely failed to understand what Valve provides here or what Germany requires.

Valve wanted to provide a free global ratings system. Any region with their own system still demands payment for their regions rating system. And so far only Germany has made theirs mandatory with its own additional fees.

This is the German government being a problem and it's a problem Valve can't solve aside from letting publishers choose whether to pay those fees or not.
---

Imagine if every country had a language requirement but then also required you had to pay only their specific translators to do the job. So not only does it create extra expenses for translation, but you can't even use free translation because they made it so you have to pay their translators.

That's what Germany did, but for ratings. They required ratings and forced you to pay only for their ratings system, they won't accept anyone else's.
---

And then there's the fun of people like you not understanding who is at fault here.

[flyomotive]

Guys, please remember that you absolutely DO NOT NEED to pay anything to get your game available in Germany. Filling out the free survey is enough. Most games don't have an USK rating and they do not need one. The problem is that not every developer can and will fill out that survey. The problem affects: New and unreleased games, older and/or indie games with inactive developer/publisher. And just looking at my wishlist and how much is greyed out, that is actually A LOT of games, way more than I would have thought.

[flyomotive]

Originally posted by Sazzouu:

Just to leave my two cents as a long term collector:

Lots of developer studios shut down or the people in charge deceased but their products remain on Steam ever since. These games will forever be gone for Germany now.

So this whole topic is not just about „developers only need to label their games propperly“ but it is a topic about a general necessity for a proper age verifictation system which was due very long time ago. Not only for Germany but for literally any country with regulations of some sort based on age - which are more than one might think.

On average for the past 10 years I‘ve been spending roughly $1000 per sale. This winter will probably be the very first time the sale starts with an amount X of money and ends with the exact same amount X. Not because there is nothing to buy anymore but this year is the very first year Valve actively decided to go the profitable anti-consumer route rather than standing up for their users since I‘ve been using this plattform.

Thank you! This is my perspective as well.
Valve has always been a company to make smart business decisions that make sense financially and also build customer goodwill: Steam Deck, Proton, Refunds, Very fast download servers..

Their (apparent) choice NOT to seek a solution for age verification - which would not be hard, in the EU the ID APIs are open to implement - seems to go against both directions: anti-user and questionable business-wise. It erodes trust and degrades the shopping experience for a large chunk of the customer base.