Government-mandated online age verification is causing headaches for Steam users, as highlighted by a recent Reddit post from Australian user u/Zekromisblack. Unable to view a game due to unverified age, the user contacted Steam Support and was told that credit card verification was the only method available. This poses a problem because credit cards are less common among younger consumers in certain countries.

World Bank data shows that only 51.41% of Australian adults have a credit card, compared to 66.7% in the US and 82.74% in Canada. Valve appears reluctant to use face-scanning age verification due to privacy concerns, leaving many users without access to age-gated content.