Steam Officially Makes R-Rated Games Unplayable For Millions

Published Sep 10, 2026, 9:28 AM EDT Bruno Yonezawa is a Gaming Senior Writer for Screen Rant. He's been practicing professional journalism for over 10 years, and is also a communications specialist. He's played games all his life and turned that passionate hobby into a passionate career, in an industry where he's worked as a writer, editor, analyst, and more. Sign in to your ScreenRant account R-rated games have just officially become unplayable for millions of gamers on Steam thanks to a new policy affecting the gaming platform that is, in its own right, pretty reasonable. There’s a wide variety of different titles available on the platform, across all sorts of genres and styles. You can, for example, play a new turn-based RPG for free on Steam, or perhaps venture into survival horror titles that keep you on the edge of your seat. Turns out, however, that mature-rated games will now be restricted for millions of players, including some of these fan-favorite games with heavy themes. As seen in a report by Tweak Town, Steam will now require an additional step in its age verification process. Specifically in Australia, Steam will require players to add a valid credit card to their account as part of the process of verifying their age. According to the report, payment methods like PayPal or debit cards won’t be accepted, so users aged 18 and above will be required to register a valid Australian credit card to continue using Steam as mature players. So, what does this mean? If players do not register a valid credit card to their accounts, they will be unable to access mature content on the platform. Age verification affects games like GTA Online, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Doom: The Dark Ages, Baldur’s Gate 3, and many others. If you don’t fully verify your age following the new steps, you’ll be blocked from purchasing these games from the storefront. Steam already has a standard-issue age verification system in place, but it is mostly based on entering a date of birth that proves your age. Now, with stricter age verification policies in Australia, players will need to go through multiple steps to prove that they are 18 or above before gaining access to R-rated games. New age verification policies will affect GTA 6, too, so if you plan to play Rockstar’s anticipated new game, make sure everything is up to date on your account. While this specific policy is being applied in Australia, several platforms, including PlayStation and Xbox, have added new steps to their age verification processes across various regions. Discord is also changing its age verification system for millions of players. Players who have not completed the new verification process but have already purchased R-rated games can continue to play them. The blockage will happen when trying to access and purchase new 18+ games on the platform without verifying your age on Steam. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003