YouTube has shifted how it enforces its policies surrounding violent content, ultimately deciding that video game violence featured in uploaded videos should be treated the same as other scripted content rather than real-world violence.
This means videos uploaded to YouTube featuring in-game violence are less likely to be age-restricted than they would have been under the previous enforcement guidelines.
However, as noted in the policy update shared to Google’s community portal, this change deals entirely with community guidelines and won’t impact how YouTube determines if a video can be monetized through advertisements.
“What does this mean for Gaming Creators? Future gaming uploads that include scripted or simulated violence may be approved instead of being age-restricted,” reads that post. “There will be fewer restrictions for violence in gaming, but this policy will still maintain our high bar to protect audiences from real-world violence.”
The YouTube team does note however that it reserves the right to age-restrict violent video game content above a certain threshold, such as a video entirely dedicated to collecting the most violent parts of a game in a single compilation.