Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) is poised to be the next big thing in gaming, simply by virtue of being the next entry in the Rockstar Games series. For Australia though, it looks like it won’t be something that they can just download and play. Since the country’s Classification Board (ACB) has rated GTA 6 as R18+, it means only adults will be allowed access. And that, in turn, requires some form of age verification, like a driving license.
Per News.com.au, game creators can face fines of up to AU$49.5 million (~RM140 million) per breach for non-compliance of the law. It’s naturally not something that publishers want to be paying out in perpetuity, so they’d have to implement their own age checks. But according to the report, the age verification system is already live, with Rockstar Games having one for current GTA Online players. This is expected to carry over to GTA 6 when it launches later in November.
It’s worth noting that the age verification laws are closely related to the need to enforce the social media ban for those under 16. With that in mind, other countries with social media bans for young teens of their own may see the same happening to them. Metro reports that while the UK has not been hit yet, code of the feature was seen almost a year ago, albeit for GTA Online and not GTA 6. The report extrapolates that while the feature is not online yet, the switch can be flipped when needed.
For now, this seems unlikely to apply to us in Malaysia. For one, the social media ban is very specific to platforms with over eight million users in the country. Beyond social media, and at least as of May of this year, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching has said that this does not apply to popular online gaming platforms, at least not yet. So while GTA Online may be on the hook at some point in the future, it’s a bit less likely for the singleplayer mode of GTA 6.
(Source: News.com.au, Metro, SCOOP)
