YouTube’s Policy Update Could Change Gaming Videos Forever — GTA VI Players Warned to “Play Differently” and CS2 case openings could be affected.
5 days ago, YouTube posted a new [Policy Update](https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/383711785/youtube-s-strengthened-approach-to-online-gambling-and-graphic-violence-in-gaming?hl=en#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20our%20existing,your%20channel%20for%2018+%20audiences) that will start on 17th of November, 2025, it includes **Online gambling content**, **Social casino content**, and **Graphic gaming content**. It mentions that they will now "prohibit online gambling with additional items that have monetary value, including digital goods (e.g. video game skins, cosmetics and NFTs)". This means CS2 case openings *could* be affected as CS2 uses real-world monetary value to buy and sell items, and also, it mentions that it will age-restrict video games "featuring realistic human characters that focuses on scenes of torture or scenes of mass violence against non-combatants." such as the iconic "No Russian" mission from Call of Duty and things frequently happens in a game like GTA. Speaking of GTA, YouTube spokesperson [Boot Bullwinkle](https://www.theverge.com/news/808545/youtube-graphic-video-game-violence-age-restriction) said “there may be ways the creator can choose to play the mission to avoid content that would lead to an age restriction.” and "Creators can also choose to blur or obscure the violence." basically forcing YouTube gamers to alter their gameplays and avoid violence or face restrictions.
As a Gaming Creator myself, I found these new policies troublesome as why would I need to heavily alter the gameplay of the game? it just shows how much censorship YouTube does under the face of "child safety". It will probably affect game studios as YouTube is a big platform when it comes to gaming, probably forcing them to resort into more "kids friendly" game rather than focusing on quality (most of them makes shitty games anyways). And what is the purpose of YouTube kids if they will manipulate the main site where kids aren't meant to be on anyways?