From next week, Australia will require users to verify their age to play GTA Online and other R18+ online games

From next week, Australia will require users to verify their age to play GTA Online and other R18+ online games | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Operating Systems A new California law says all operating systems, including Linux, need to have some form of age verification at account setup Gaming Industry An AI-generated review of Resident Evil Requiem written by a fake ‘iGaming and sports betting analyst’ briefly hit Metacritic Sim Star Citizen studio suffered a data breach in January, and some players aren’t happy with the very quiet disclosure that only happened this week Gaming Industry US government reportedly debating whether to force Tencent to give up its US-based game holdings Operating Systems Resistance to operating system age checks coming from *checks notes* open source calculator and an OS that may just exclude Californians altogether Games Stop Killing Games is launching NGOs in the European Union and the US: ‘We’re not just going away on this’ Adventure The world’s first ‘standardized gaming test’ will see if you can beat an ’80s adventure game without a walkthrough—and it’ll even monitor you over a webcam to make sure you don’t cheat Security Security researchers claim Persona, the provider behind Discord’s UK age verification ‘experiment’, performs ‘269 individual verification checks’ on user data, including those for terrorism and espionage Hardware Scientists warn against crappy age verification: ‘if implemented without careful consideration… the new regulation might cause more harm than good’ Games New games 2025: The year’s PC game releases Hardware Someone has already made a free in-browser 3D model to bypass Discord age verification that ‘works on any potato computer’ Gaming Industry New York sues Valve for ‘letting children and adults illegally gamble’ with loot boxes Platforms Oh, good: Discord’s age verification rollout has ties to Palantir co-founder and panopticon architect Peter Thiel Platforms Here’s what happens if you don’t complete Discord age verification Grand Theft Auto After 4 years, I’m pleased to report I’ve inadvertently discovered Squid Game mods for GTA 5 are actually really good now PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Resident EvilArc RaidersBest PC gearGame Quizzes Gaming Industry GTA Online From next week, Australia will require users to verify their age to play GTA Online and other R18+ online games News By Shaun Prescott last updated 6 March 2026 The age assurance future is coming for games. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Australians attempting to access online games with an R18+ classification will soon need to prove their age, and if publishers don’t comply they could face fines of nearly AU$50 million. The change applies to online games only—in other words, singleplayer, offline games with an R18+ rating, like Doom Eternal, don’t need to worry—but it will affect GTA Online.The new requirement, which comes in effect on Monday, will also affect pornography and “explicit” AI chatbots, according to SMH. It’s all part of measures taken under the new Age-Restricted Material Codes which, according to a release from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, covers “most corners of the online ecosystem”.According to the same release, “A breach of a direction to comply with a code can result in penalties of up to AU$49.5 million per breach”. You may like After its teen social media ban, Australia is swooping on Roblox following ‘ongoing concerns about online child grooming’ Discord is rolling out facial scanning and ID checks globally in March for users who don’t want to be locked into a ‘teen-appropriate experience’ Age verification checks are now in force in the UK because of the Online Safety Act, but with the Discord fallout, it seems like one bad idea after another Age assurance technology takes a lot of forms. In Australia, where a social media ban has been imposed for children under 16, YouTube requires credit card details or a copy of a valid government ID to determine age. Instagram uses “facial age estimation technology” based on video footage uploaded by the user, as does TikTok, and both also accept government ID.Overall, the method has to be much stronger than the simple self-declaration box w