“Steam started blocking Australian users from viewing or buying 18+ rated games on September 9, 2026, unless they attach a valid credit card to their account. Valve’s rollout affects hundreds of mature-rated titles, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom Eternal, and it doesn’t matter whether the account is brand new or fifteen years old with a library full of paid-for adult games. Without a credit card on file, those store pages, search results, and even home-page recommendations simply disappear.”
It is interesting to see where this goes, but as an Australian, it is far from fascinating; concerning seems a more accurate descriptor. Australia is obviously a very small market for steam, so it would not surprise me if they are using us as a testing ground for all of this. I assume something will have changed in another weeks time, not necessarily for the better though.
The cosy game industry is clearly behind this /s
We are small, but lucrative. If something is introduced where Valve faces losing access to the Australian market, they’ll 100% cave. No ‘principal’ from their end is worth however many Millions of dollars they receive from this market - particularly since they do honestly have actual competition. Valve enjoys market share mostly because they were first and are convenient. If they cease to be convenient, they will lose that share overnight. We’re already seeing people in this thread say they are going to stop buying games on Steam. The main reason I do most of my shopping at the Steam Store is that most of my library is there. Not for any other particular reason.
I don’t know what the the government can do that will stop people dealing with Steam, unless they can intervene at the bank level. That’s where the fascination is coming from. This is the first decent-sized site to show this level of resistance to the policy.
Steam won’t lose access to the market, this will just be a hiccup
Any customers that steam loses due to this, will be quickly replaced, large companies are generally not overly worried about losing customers due to new customers being born every single day
“This is the first decent-sized site to show this level of resistance to the policy.” What?
The government has the ability and precedent to direct Australian banks to cut off merchants. It’s used routinely for scammers, dodgy overseas pharmacies, online gambling sites - stuff that isn’t compliant with Australian law. I don’t know whether the eSafety Commissioner has access to those powers, but yes - the possibility that Valve loses the Australian market has precedence.
Of course, I can’t see it going that far, because I think they’d cave and comply with Australian law before we got to that stage.
Can you name another company with hundred of millions of dollars in revenue in Australia that has played this sort of game with the Social Media law? The closest I can think of was when Facebook tried to play games with Online News - and they caved and paid up for three years before abandoning Facebook News in Australia.
I’m not aware of steam giving any reason for anyone to believe they are resisting anything, they appear to be doing the opposite since the Australian government wants ID on everything digital.
Wanting to believe they are playing a game, doesn’t mean that they are.
I’m guessing credit card applications have increased in the last week.
This is incorrect. In fact, the OAIC recommends that providers do the opposite:
Plus, there are a bunch of extra rules if you do have ID on your users. I don’t know how you got that impression, but it is mistaken.
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