Rockstar Games Reportedly Implementing Age Verification In ‘Grand Theft Auto Online’ To Abide UK Law
A dataminer has uncovered Rockstar Games’ upcoming attempts to ensure Grand Theft Auto Online will abide by UK law- and potentially similar laws coming to Europe and the USA. Namely, age verification to stop underage users seeing illegal or harmful content; in a game rated 18+.
As social user medias were mocking and bemoaning the UK’s Online Safety Act, one user joked they could still visit strip clubs in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online (the latter being the online mode of V). Rockstar Games-focused dataminer @TezFunz2 (Tez2 to the community) put a dampener on things with what they had uncovered.
“Jokes aside, Rockstar is planning to implement age assurance checks in the near future, rolling them out by region,” Tez2 revealed. “You may need to verify your age to access #GTAOnline, or certain features, like phone messages, text chat, Snapmatic, may be restricted until you verify your age.”
We can see from the messages within the code Rockstar Games potentially telling users “You must meet the minimum age requirement to access GTA Online.”
Nonetheless, we also see other lines stating that various features are disabled until the user’s age is verified, suggesting someone can play the game without having to prove their age. We must also consider this code is likely a work in progress before any official implementation.
The dataminer would later share “A preview of age assurance in-game. This is not active yet. GTAOnline.” Therein we see the warning, “Please verify your age to access online features,” as well as an options menu where turning various in-game communications on or off are under under age verification, and an error screen when attempting to use a QR code.
The UK’s Online Safety Act came into effect in late July, putting the duty of care onto all websites and digital services to avoid children coming into contact with illegal and harmful content.
This requires “highly effective” age verification for users on websites and services featuring communication, user-submitted content, or adult content. Violators can be fined “up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue,” with more serious cases blocking the whole website.
Methods thus far include uploading a photo of a government-issued ID or their face, a credit card purchase, the age of user’s email address, AI estimation, or simply blocking UK IPs. The law has been criticized for overreach, ineffectual even in its purported goals, and resulting in outright censorship of free speech and criticism of the UK government.
It is surprising Rockstar Games are attempting to only restrict communication within Grand Theft Auto Online. While there is single player content beyond what’s part of Grand Theft Auto V, other players online are supposed to be able to be part of the experience, not to mention user-generated missions and content.
In fact, user-generated content is likely to play a large part in Grand Theft Auto VI — as Rockstar Games had spoken to Fortnite and Roblox content creators — meaning that the game’s online component could also require age verification.
Ergo, an underage user would be unable to play Grand Theft Auto Online… Online. Or at least, not in a way where they could see or communicate with others.
This is despite Grand Theft Auto V — and therefore Grand Theft Auto Online — being not only rated 18+ by PEGI but also illegal to be sold to anyone younger than 18.
