Nighthawks, the long-in-development vampire RPG due to be released later this month, is the latest game to run afoul of Steam’s increasingly stringent rules regarding adult content. According to publisher Wadjet Eye Games, the game has been labelled ‘Adults Only’—causing it to be removed from Steam search and outright delisted in certain countries like Germany—despite claims from both developer and publisher that the RPG’s depictions of sex and nudity are very mild.
“We are aware that Steam has classified Nighthawks as an adult game and has excluded it from searches,” Wadjet Eye boss Dave Gilbert wrote on Bluesky. “We are working on it. Valve is under the impression that this game is way sexier than it actually is.” Gilbert further commented that “Valve is basically treating Nighthawks like a porn game!” in responding to a reply to his initial post.
A game being labelled Adults Only can affect its visibility in several ways. Adults Only games will not appear in Steam searches by default, requiring users to log in, verify their age (which requires the use of a credit card in some countries) and adjust their preferred content settings before they become visible. In addition, the label can cause games to be delisted outright in certain countries.
FYI to anyone interested in games with sexual content: You can change the default settings so these games do still appear when searching.
As soon as I saw the screenshot I started getting really excited, and lo and behold after checking the page it is by Richard Cobbett who did Sunless Seas/Skies!! Definitely getting it on release
The problem with this is that in the UK and now Australia, to view ‘Adult’ games you need to verify your age with a credit card. Something that isn’t common to have in either country. And in Germany the game is completely delisted.
Wait, so how both country pay for the game?
What do you mean?
They’re presumably not sending cash, so what’s the payment method? Direct bank transfer?
Debit cards normally.
Shouldn’t that work the same way? It can still pull your data from your bank for age verification, at least thats how it works here (malaysia). So people who use gift card are the one got blocked off.
I’m pretty sure they don’t pull any actual customer data from the bank (GDPR) and just assume minors don’t have credit cards. I haven’t checked for all of Europe, but in Germany and Austria you have to be 18 to get one, so the fact you have one in your name can act as sufficient proof that you are an adult without transferring any actual personal data.
Debit cards on the other hand are legal for minors and common for people as young as 12.
I see, forgot about the GDPR thing.
Yep I can see them in search but I’m an Australian with no credit card, that’s all I can see.
And unfortunately this doesn’t help buy shit that is banned in your region.
Luckily GOG isn’t affected at this stage.
Oh but it is. As a german I can tell you that a lot of adult themed games are not available in germany. It is “fun”, they send me advertising Mails with this games, but when I try to open the links then nothing is there only a redirect to the store homepage.
That’s the garden variety censorship though, right? Your government deciding no one should be allowed access, not just restricting access behind mandatory state sanctioned identity theft like some of the more “Enlightened” countries have.
Sure, but it is still wrong to say that GOG is not affected by it.
Yeah, maybe. Different pathways to the same end I guess still gets you to the same end… In Germany.
Because it’s too small so nobody cares about it. If it ever approaches the type of market penetration Steam has, they’ll be getting the same pressures from the puritans too.
I think the normies just find the niche hard to appreciate. People don’t think about things like ownership and DRM until they are forced to.