The PC gaming platform Steam has blocked the purchase of some games with explicit sexual content in Germany. It is suspected that Steam follows strict regulations and censors games in the “Adults Only” category because there is no robust age verification system.
What is happening on Steam? A reddit user noticed that since yesterday, the shop pages of some “Adult Only” games on Steam cannot be accessed from Germany. Instead of a page displaying the game and allowing purchase, you receive the message “These contents are not permitted in your country.”
This is referred to as a “regional lock,” a country-specific ban. Something similar is known from measures against Ukraine during the Crimea crisis.
A discussion has developed on reddit. A user stated: He is a developer whose game was removed from the German market. Steam advised him to remove any content that is even remotely erotic. It is not enough to just pixelate the content.
There is no public announcement from Steam regarding this regulation for Germany.
Why is this happening right now? The ban seems to be related to a development that we reported on MeinMMO on December 10th. With a new browsing feature, Steam has given players more categories to choose from: This should allow players to search more specifically for titles they find interesting among the ever-growing offerings of PC games on Steam.
In the course of this initiative, Steam introduced an “Adults Only” section. Players could specifically search for “Not Safe For Work” and found games like “Among Ass” or “Megacraft Hentai Edition”, real gems of gaming.
The option to search for “Not Safe For Work” from Germany has now disappeared from the new search function. Between Soundtrack and Virtual Reality, there is currently no more “Not Safe For Work”.
“Not Safe For Work” disappears from German Steam
Which games are affected exactly? Access to the shop pages of games tagged as “Not Safe For Work” (Adults Only) has been blocked – apparently, it concerns games that do not have a USK rating “18+”:
- For example, the shop page for “BustyBiz” was banned – a typical autoclicker where you have to build a tower.
- The shop page for “Strip 4” is also no longer accessible – that was the game for which xQc was once banned from Twitch, because a virtual school friend undressed after being defeated in “4 in a Row”.
Games with the label “Sexual Content” are not automatically affected by the ban. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Crusader Kings 3 can still be purchased from Germany.
A whole number of erotic games are also still available on Steam, such as the cat-girl epic Nekopara.
Also, anyone who has already purchased and installed one of the “Adult Only” games can continue to use it.
This is how it is discussed: People on reddit are actively discussing the Germany-exclusive ban:
- It is said that such a rule does nothing and only strengthens piracy.
- It is conspicuous that Steam no longer announces such things, seemingly fearing the response.
- One user argues: Generally, an age restriction is correct, as such content should only be seen by adults, there should be a system for that, and these games should not be advertised to minors.
- Several Germans express their annoyance about the “backward and stupid laws” of the country – “new territory,” they mock.
- Others demand that Steam should introduce a solid age verification system and release the games. One user states he is 32 and now has to deal with such nonsense.
It seems that Steam has dampened the start of the holiday season for many Germans. Merry Christmas.
Games with explicit sexual content often struggle, as we can see in the current example of Steam. Similar problems were recently faced by the sci-fi sex game Subverse: It had teamed up with an influencer whose reputation caused issues.
YouTuber is so controversial that even a sex game distances itself from him
