Twitch won’t let users stream AO-rated games

Amazon’s gameplay livestreaming site Twitch said it will not let users stream “adults only” games, according to a blog post.

That means that games given the toughest rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board — which retailers often don’t carry — cannot be streamed to other members on the Twitch platform.

“Our goal at Twitch is to create a safe, welcoming, inclusive community platform where everyone can feel comfortable and have fun. From time to time, we update our Rules of Conduct (RoC) in pursuit of this goal and to match emerging issues in the video game industry,” the company said.

“Previously, we made game-specific decisions about which games would and would not be available for broadcast — sometimes due to overtly sexual content, sometimes due to gratuitous violence. This is unsustainable and unclear, generating only further confusion among Twitch broadcasters,” Twitch added. “We would like to make this policy as transparent as possible.”

The ESRB has its own Ratings Guide and list of Adults Only games.

While the ESRB ratings apply exclusively to U.S. titles, Twitch extended the policy to games in all regions.