Steam users in the UK must now verify their age in order to access store pages for games with mature content, as required by the Online Safety Act.

Valve has released instructions for UK users to opt in using credit card details, which will trigger a £0 authorisation. In the UK, you must be at least 18 years of age to obtain a credit card.

“Having the credit card stored as a payment method acts as an additional deterrent against circumventing age verification by sharing a single Steam user account among multiple persons,” the instructions read.

Valve stated this process “preserves the maximum degree of user privacy” in comparison to other age assurance mechanisms. For instance, another mechanism would be using AI to visually identify if a user is over 18.

“The data processed in the verification process is identical to that of the millions of other Steam users who make purchases or store their payment details for convenience,” Valve continued. “The verification process therefore provides no information about a user’s content preferences to payment providers or other third parties.”

This requirement on Steam comes as a result of the UK’s new Online Safety Act, which is aimed at making the internet safer for children, but regulator Ofcom now requires age verification across all sites and platforms with adult content.

How will the Online Safety Act affect the games industry? Eurogamer asked the experts.

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