At the beginning of this year, Turkey formulated a bill that sets out a series of requirements for the platforms of the games of Steam and Epic Gomes Store. After careful consideration, the Turkish Parliament had recently approved the bill but had made minor concessions to the relevant requirements.
In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the game platform must indicate the age rating of its game in Turkey and automatically mark it at 18+ if, for some reason, the game is not graded; the platform must have a “clear, easy and easy to use” parental control tool. In addition, foreign games platforms with more than 100,000 active users in Turkey must appoint a local representative. The representative may be either a specialized company or an individual, without having to open an official office in Turkey. The relevant information of the representative must be submitted to the Turkish regulatory body and must be made available on the platform in an “accessible manner”.
If the platform does not comply with the relevant provisions, it will first be warned and given a month to make the modifications. In one month, a fine of up to 10 million Turkish lire (approximately $22.26 million) will be imposed; in another month, the fine will increase to 30 million Turkish lire (approximately $667.8 million). For platforms that remain uncorrected after fines, the speed of access will be limited to 30 to 50 per cent. The Turkish Games Association TOGED claimed that the original requirements should have been more stringent, but the authorities were eventually persuaded to abandon some of the most controversial provisions. For example, the preliminary version of the Act states that games that are not rated by the issuer will not be sold in Turkey. In addition, regulators initially wanted to gain the power to completely block domestic playing platforms, but eventually changed their minds.
Now, although the bill has been adopted by Parliament, there is still some time before it enters into force, and Steam and other platforms will have a six-month buffer to comply with Turkey ‘ s new regulations.