As a response to the enforcement of the UK Online Safety Act (spotted by VGC), Valve has begun requesting and requiring that UK players verify their age if they want to access any content pages marked as 'mature' on the platform.
Unlike other age verification processes we've started to see that rely on AI tools, Valve is taking a simpler approach, and enforcing age verification through users inputting their credit card on Steam. A support page outlining how it'll work explains that this route was chosen due to UK regulations around needing to be 18 years of age to have a credit card in your name, and because "this process preserves the maximum degree of user privacy."
Users online began to notice this was in effect as of last Friday, according to VGC, though if you're over 18 with your own credit card registered to your Steam account, then you wouldn't have known the verification had begun since you would already be past its requirements.
"In the UK, Ofcom is the independent regulator for online safety. Ofcom's guidance on the OSA states that one highly effective age assurance measure is credit card checks. This is because, in the UK, an individual must be at least 18 years of age to obtain a credit card, therefore credit card issuers are obliged to verify the age of an applicant before providing them with a credit card...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. The verification process therefore provides no information about a user's content preferences to payment providers or other third parties."
Valve is one of several companies that have begun instituting age verification. Some, like Nexus Mods, are still trying to work out how age verification will be implemented, but have confirmed that it is coming. Others, like Rockstar's GTA Online have yet to confirm that it is being implemented, but some version of verification being enforced seems highly likely. So far, these verification implementations have mostly impacted users in the UK and the EU.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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