Twitch doesn’t want you streaming Adult Only rated titles

Just days before the controversial isometric shooter, Hatred is due to release, Twitch has tightened up its rules on streaming Adult Only ESRB rated games, announcing its new policy over on its official blog. This means that if a game is rated AO by the ESRB in the US, it can't be streamed on Twitch, even if the game received a less harsh rating in other parts of the world.

“Games rated 18+ by other rating systems are fine to stream, so long as they are not rated AO by the ESRB, and they don’t violate the standard language of our RoC and ToS”, the blog post reads.

However, the blog post does note that ‘Mature' rated games are still fine: “If a game’s US version is rated Adults Only by the ESRB, you should not broadcast that game on Twitch. However, ESRB rated Mature versions of Adults Only titles are permitted for streaming, such as Mature versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy.”

We don't get that many Adult Only games as most developers or publishers try to avoid the extreme rating. However, this does mean that titles like Hatred, Manhunt 2, the initial release of GTA: San Andreas or any of the other games on this short list of AO games, can no longer be broadcast on Twitch.

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KitGuru Says: Twitch has plenty of rules on its service, including a dress code for broadcasters on camera, so the fact that it doesn't want extreme AO rated games on its service isn't surprising. However, this does mean that Hatred's advertisement campaign will be limited to YouTube, rather than branching out to Twitch, which is gaining more and more popularity. 

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