Sooo apparently, for germany, there got a new law pushed that forced sites and Stores
that provide Adult Content as well as Adult Games to build in a Age Check.

Yes that means ALL adult games are reagon locked on Steam now, because Valve
is too lazy to implement this, way to go, doesn t make me desire to wake up my
10 year old account there at all even MORE.

I presume that is the reason why Subverse Devs didn t got a response last year.
However, do we have any news on the matter of hand?`

This would be a opportunity for GoG to make some money. So yes would like to see
Subverse on this Store

PS:
Not sorry for the necro, because i want the Galaxy devs to read this.
(well if they bother)

GOG must also adhere to this new law, and so far the only solution they've been able to find is to release the games censored (which then a handy patch allows you to restore), as happened with Huniepop 2.
However, it would be nice to know how the Subverse issue ended.

GOG customers have a right to know why they censor and ban some games for AO type of content, and yet not others. What exactly is the criteria they are using to choose what to censor and what not to? And why do they hide this info from the public?

Then why does GOG sell other games with porn-like content in them, such as all three of the Witcher games? What makes one form of porn okay and perfectly fine, and yet another kind is not and must be banned?

And what is the exact criteria that defines something as a 'porn game' or not? Seems like a pretty arbitrary judgement call.

If one type is allowed, then they all should be. And if one type is banned, then they all should be too, including the Witcher games for having porn content (note: I'm not actually advocating to ban the Witcher games, but rather I'm just pointing out the hypocritical double standard).

The easiest and only good way to adhere to that law is to ban games from sale to German customers. I.e. if a customer uses an IP address from Germany, then code the website in such a way so that they cannot buy the game. Problem solved.

If GOG does that, then they are 100% adhering to the German law. There is no need whatsoever to censor the game or make customers in other countries suffer from a Germany-specific problem.

lol, of all possible retailers you hope that the one that has proven time and time again that it will tuck its tail between its legs and run at the first sign of trouble will save the day?

That's an enviable level of optimism you're displaying there!

Disclaimer: I am one of Subverse's backers and getting already very giddy about being able to play it (it is sitting locked in my steam library since ages though).

Although Subverse is not your typical adult game, it is a "normal" game with tactical combat, shooter elements, Elite (the game) elements and would work without all sexy stuff, it is way way more raunchy than The Witcher, Leisure Suit Larry and all other more "risqué" games combined here on GOG. In addition to its explicit material, the drawing style is modern, more "realistic" western style, not japanese style.

Well your lawmakers do have a boner (erm) for isolating Germany from the rest of the world and are secretly looking enviously at the Great Firewall of China they also want to have in your country.

Valve is not lazy, this is a pure business decision. From that perspective, it is cheaper in the long run just to block Germany from Steam than implementing an age verification system with its infrastructure, energy, hardware, software and staff costs to please a single country for its boneheaded laws.

You will see that if your legislation will enforce their system on the internet, more and more stuff is getting unavailable for you.

My guess is that, if it will be sold on GOG, it will also not be available to German customers, like some games here are not purchasable there (mostly WW2 stuff and most visual novels iirc).

Take care.

Exactly this will happen, if Subverse is getting published on GOG.

If you really want to purchase the game in one way or another, I'd suggest to contact the developers directly. I'm fairly confident that they are willing to work out an individual deal for you, as long as you are civil and polite.

Nothing new. So does every literally every Government around the world. This is sad, but a fact nonetheless.

Could we stop fanboi-ing for valve at some point? Yes it is lazyness. To claim its super hardcore difficult or expensive is being naive. Youtube does it, easily so. Every Credit Card company does it. Just couple the account its owners name with a credit card. Done. You have complied with the law. If the parents give access their children to their account, it is not Valves fault. Just like its no Marlboro's fault if minors smoke the packs of their parents lying just around the house. Its just that John Doe le_Troll_not_MaName can no longer own an anonymous account.

And here is where the confusion lies. The game is Legal in Germany, if you are over 18. The issue is proving you are over 18. This should not be super hard.

What Valve currently does is actually illegal. Geo-blocking in the EU is illegal. They have lost previous court cases where they were dragged before the courts. Sadly, the courts were, IMO, not aware of how lucrative it is, to disregard the law.

Heck, nowadays you can play games with swastikas, if I read it right on the forums, not 100% sure on this. But I know you can now read Mein Kampf nowadays.

Imo, GOG/Steam/etc shouldn't have to adhere to some new "nanny state" style gaming laws made by any country, and such countries should let their adult citizens play what they want free of any censorship.

Age Gates don't often work anyways...people(like with most DRM) eventually find a way around them.

Simply enter "wolfen..." into the search box above to confirm.

Games with swastikas have never been outright illegal in Germany, but nobody was up to taking "games are art, and thus can show Nazi symbols too" to court for a long time. All publishers rather played it safe and removed the symbols for the German market.
I can't blame them, nobody knows how a court ruling would have turned out a decade ago.
Who also played it safe was the German rating institution USK - they simply refused to rate games showing Nazi symbols, and not having a rating brings the danger of blacklisting (rated games can't be blacklisted, even if they're rated 18+, and yeah... that makes no sense).

That USK policy changed in 2018 when games like Attentat 1942 appeared who told stories from the perspective of the victims of Nazi rule - much like what Art Spiegelman's "Maus" has done for comics. It'd been ridiculous to refuse a rating to a game showing the horrors of Nazi occupation for showing the according symbols. So they were basically forced to change their ways to not make complete fools of themselves.

Nowadays games do count as art (and possibly education too) "per default", so they are free to show historical symbols in general - as long as they don't glorify Nazis and their ideas. In the latter case the USK could still deny a rating, and the game would probably be blacklisted or even banned.

Not arguing whether such things should be made or not, or are right or wrong, but: this** is the sort of "foolish thinking" that led to stuff like the hays code & the comics code, and the belief that they would somehow cut down on bad acts irl.

(**banning or blacklisting things thinking it will stop or majorly reduce IRL problems)

At the very bare least, I think GOG should take steps in the absolutely modicum of minimum effort comply with the new law to at the very least, bother by the book.

I'm certain that among other systems, there's a bare-ass standard GOG could legally adhere to while satisfying the conditions of said thing.

Unless the spirit of the German law is so complicated as to make compliance a matter of proper system implementation such as ID verification or purchase verification via a proper channel.

Rulling Elites: "let's fuck/multiply like rabbits"

Religion Leaders: Sex is bad and shamefull.

Rulling Elites and Religion Leaders: Wars are cool and proffitable; let them make more games about that, let them fight amongst themselves while we: ""

My point is that:
be a full fledged being or keep drinking Medias coolaid.

I outlined just the common sense in business, this is not Valve specific, for your other stuff, see Godwin's Law.

If geoblocking is not allowed in the EU, why all video streaming services (and news sites) do this? Even the public TV senders (also in Germany) do this.

I'd be surprised, if Subverse will be available on GOG due its really raunchy nature and more, if it will not be blocked on GOG for Germans.

As already said, if you really wanna have it, speak up with the developers, there is surely a way.

As predicted, Studio FOW does its own shop platform for selling Subverse called "Streemster" with special love for people who live in countries where Subverse is not available for them.

https://streemster.com/

Quote:
You shall be able to buy the game title “Subverse” on Streemster from this time.

Subverse Kickstarter supporters in territories such as Germany, South Korea, China and all other geographic areas who are not permitted to download Subverse from Steam will be able to redeem their Steam key and download the game at Streemster free of charge.
-- Quote End --

The subverse developers are very stubborn and crafty, you know.

See also their latest Kickstarter update post: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/990500595/subverse/posts/3141093?

Not at all, more like some kind of fatalism regarding the global situation CDPR and GoG are in
right now. I suspect they ll need money soon enough, say what you want, but sex sells. With
Subverse being one of the better quality productions (from what i ve seen so far) it would be
indeed a good opportunity.

Let alone to make GoG more known and get more "reach" as they say it. (imo ofc) Yes to abide by the law, they need a "strong" age verification, which is simply put a one click question.
xHamster works just fine and they have to abide by the same law. Anybody "old" enough to have a verified
bank account to pay money here, is old enough (by german law) to see porn / sex.

aka
VOLL GESCHÄFTSFÄHIG as it is called. Valve is in fact lazy about that, blocking the content was just the easy lazy way out. The adult games aren t
forbidden in germany at all, neither is porn or anything sex related. Exactly this, but valve does MANY things that are illegal by EU law. But we don t get into the whole OWN your
games BS that steam pulls since over 10 years My suspision as well.

Anyhow, given that germany is one of the largest adutl contennt markets in the EU, it might worth
considering get into it. Not sure i Austria and Swiss did the same as german but PEGI is different there
i think. Yes they already sell it on their own shop, right now it is still early access. That is a line i ll never cross
lewdness or not. I did CROSS the preorder line for CD Projekt Red... now look at CP77. Yeah.
I gonna buy Subverse once the game is complete. Aka all 22? chapters are out. Yes i know this, as stated above once the game is complete i ll buy it.

I don't think a store that curates owes anyone an explanation for what they choose to sell or not sell, honestly. That Devotion game was only a thing because they announced it was coming and then cancelled it when China yelled at them, which was pathetic. Otherwise though, it's GOG's decision what they want to sell and no one else's really.