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Valve has made an important change to Steam’s age verification system in Australia, making it easier for some users to access age-restricted games without providing additional information. Previously, Australian users were required to add a credit card to their Steam account to prove they were adults. However, Valve has now introduced another option that automatically verifies certain accounts based on how long they’ve been active.
According to Steam’s updated support page, Australian accounts that are at least nine years old can now be automatically age-verified, provided they have maintained a consistent email address or billing information.
This means that users who created their Steam accounts nine or more years ago may no longer need to go through the manual verification process. Instead, Valve will use existing account information to determine whether they meet the requirements.
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Age verification on Steam in Australia
For those unfamiliar with the situation, Steam introduced age verification in Australia around two months ago to comply with the country’s Age-Restricted Material Online Safety Codes. Under these rules, platforms like Steam must verify that users are over 18 before allowing them to access store and community pages for games rated R18+. The problem was that Valve initially offered only one way to complete the verification process: adding a credit card to a Steam account.
While this might sound like a simple requirement, it created problems for users who don’t own a credit card. Even if someone was well over 18, they couldn’t access certain age-restricted store pages without linking one to their account. To make matters worse, debit cards aren’t accepted for age verification under the Australian rules. This meant that users who relied on debit cards for their online purchases couldn’t use them to prove their age.
The latest change should make things easier for long-time Steam users, especially those who have been using the same account for nearly a decade. However, there is still a catch. Simply having an account that is nine years old isn’t enough. Steam also requires a consistent email address or billing information.
This means that some long-time users who have changed their email addresses or billing details over the years might not qualify for automatic verification. For everyone else, adding a credit card remains an option. Valve has clarified that users don’t need to purchase anything with the card. They only need to add it to their account to complete the verification process.
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