The global games market needs to be more socially responsible and make sure children aren't playing titles that are too old for them.
That's according to Outright Games chair Nick Button-Brown who spoke to GamesIndustry.biz saying that the industry needs to do a better job of catering to a younger audience.
"I think games need to take more responsibility," he said.
"We have the opportunity to do good, and it can be in subtle ways. Hopefully we can learn some lessons from what we did 20 years ago, or 10 years ago--things that took our industry in certain directions. Can we deal with things with more social responsibility?"
He continued: "10 years ago, those licensed games would sell up to 18-year-olds. I don't think we have that anymore. 11-year-olds unfortunately want to play Grand Theft Auto. Kids grow old quickly. But there's still a market. We're not going to sell 10 million units, but we can sell a good number of units that justifies making it."
Asked about Valve's laissez-faire attitude to games curation, Button-Brown says is a lazy approach.
"I think that's copping out," he said. "It is our responsibility. It's not just up to the parents. That's too easy a get-out. It's our responsibility to provide experience which cater to a mature market, and to make sure the experiences catering to a mature market are selling to [the appropriate audience] that wants that experience."
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Forget how terrible its family sharing, lets look at the family filter the tool that supposed to lock down an account so only chosen games can be played by the child.
First, in ignorance to 50 years of established security protocols, you don't control access via an admin account but use the restricted account itself.
second, the restricted account can remove the restriction itself. If the child has access to the email associated with the account (likely if the kid themselves set it up), they can open a support ticket to have the lock removed.
lastly, when used with SFS any new games the sharing account gains are automatically available to the child account. Requiring them to be blocked when purchased.
Combined with its draconian usage policies, Steam is hideously unfriendly for family use.