YouTube has revealed new plans to tighten policies surrounding video game content uploaded to the platform – specifically when it centers around more controversial adult themes, including gambling and graphic violence.
As Valve faces the fire from both fans and developers alike following the new Counter-Strike 2 update, which left the community in shambles over skin prices and the entirety of Steam's marketplace crashing, other companies are taking a stand against gambling in video games – YouTube included. A new announcement, aptly dubbed "YouTube's strengthened approach to online gambling and graphic violence in gaming," reveals as much.
In it, Google explains its decision to change YouTube's guidelines: "Our policies are designed to evolve alongside the digital world. We're making these updates to keep pace with new trends, like gambling with digital goods, and to more closely align our guidelines for mature content with industry standards."
An outline of the coming tweaks is then provided, starting with "online gambling content" – specifically within the realm of video games.
"Our current policy prohibits content that directs viewers to online gambling sites or applications that are not certified by Google," it reads. "We're expanding our enforcement to now cover online gambling with additional items that have monetary value, including digital goods (e.g. video game skins, cosmetics and NFTs)." It's hard not to think of the ongoing Counter-Strike 2 skin fiasco, and the $6 billion market that Valve's cosmetics created.
"We're updating our approach to casino-style games where nothing of real-world monetary value is wagered or cashed out," continues the announcement from Google. "Content that depicts, promotes, or facilitates social casino sites will now be age-restricted."
Counter-Strike 2 isn't the only game in question here, however, nor are features like gambling and casinos. Titles like Grand Theft Auto 6 could also be affected by the new YouTube policies. That's because they're attempting to tackle "graphic content" like depictions of violence, too – especially when it involves "realistic" characters.
"In addition to our existing guidelines around graphic gaming content, we will age-restrict an additional small subset of video game content featuring realistic human characters that focuses on scenes of torture or scenes of mass violence against non-combatants," as stated in the new policy post.
YouTube will "consider several factors when reviewing this type of content," though, like duration, prominence, and, as mentioned before, the inclusion of "realistic human characters." It's safe to say games like GTA 6 don't exactly hold back when it comes to violence, and their characters are certainly "realistic" – especially when you consider its impressive new visuals, which add detail to everything from blades of grass to, well, people.
As for how this will all play out, YouTube expects that "most channels will experience little to no impact." Any content uploaded before November 17, which seems to be the date the new policies are officially rolling out, might be removed or age-restricted, but may also be edited ahead of time. Here's hoping we still see plenty of GTA 6 videos floating about later this year and beyond – although I could do with less Counter-Strike 2…
