Microsoft auto-verified long-standing accounts in Australia while Steam still demands a credit card

Australia's new age verification laws are already a mess, and Valve is making it worse. Steam requires a credit card — and only a credit card — to prove you're over 18, which is a problem in a country where credit card use is relatively low. Even accounts dating back to 2003 with existing R18+ purchases still have to jump through the same hoop.

Microsoft took a different approach. The author received an email from Microsoft stating that due to "longstanding account activity," the account had been automatically estimated as an adult profile and marked as verified — no credit card, no ID scan, no face recognition required. Xbox and Microsoft storefronts are now fully accessible without any further verification steps. It's not a perfect system, but it's a stark contrast to Valve's single-option approach.

Valve's method looks like textbook malicious compliance — technically legal under Australian law, but implemented in a way that's almost designed to cause friction. Credit cards are not the dominant payment method in Australia, where debit cards and bank transfers are far more common. The result is that a large chunk of Steam's Australian user base is effectively locked out of purchasing R18+ titles like Metal Gear Solid 4, Doom Eternal, or Rimworld, regardless of how long they've had an account or what they've already bought.

The author isn't cheerleading for Microsoft — the piece is clear that age verification in general raises serious privacy and security concerns, and that scanning faces or uploading government ID isn't a great alternative either. But when one platform auto-approves decades-old accounts and another demands a specific financial instrument that many users don't own, the comparison doesn't flatter Valve. For Australian PC players who want to buy R18+ games right now, Steam alternatives are apparently the more practical route.