Steam Age Check Locks Out 65% of Australians [2026]
tech-insider.org
Steam now blocks 18+ games in Australia without a verified credit card. Here's why 65% of adults are locked out, and how it compares to Xbox.

“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.”

  • eremophila@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
    3·
    15 hours ago

    Steam won’t lose access to the market, this will just be a hiccup

    • some people with credit cards will use them
    • some people will get credit cards just for this purpose (and then end up in debt)
    • some people will just wait to see what happens
    • steam will open this up to other verification methods (good, or bad)

    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?

    • Nath@aussie.zoneMEnglish
      1·
      11 hours ago

      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.

      “This is the first decent-sized site to show this level of resistance to the policy.” What?

      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.

      • eremophila@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
        1·
        9 hours ago

        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.

        • Nath@aussie.zoneMEnglish
          2·
          9 hours ago

          Australian government wants ID on everything digital

          This is incorrect. In fact, the OAIC recommends that providers do the opposite:

          The OAIC encourages entities to adopt a ‘privacy by design’ approach when selecting an assurance method. A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a systematic assessment that identifies the privacy impact on individuals, and sets out recommendations for managing, minimising or eliminating that impact. A PIA demonstrates commitment to, and respect of, individual’s privacy.

          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.