The Indonesian government recently brought its national game rating system, the Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS), to the Steam platform. While the move is a significant step toward regulating game content in the country, the rollout has been anything but smooth.

What is IGRS?

The IGRS is Indonesia’s official video game content rating system, first established in 2016 by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics which is now called the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi). It classifies games into five age categories: 3+, 7+, 13+, 15+, and 18+.

In early 2024, Komdigi issued a new regulation replacing the older 2016 rules, following a Presidential Regulation focused on growing Indonesia’s national game industry. Under this updated regulation, every game distributed in Indonesia is required to go through the IGRS classification process. To help developers and publishers adjust, the government set a two-year transition period.

The idea behind the system goes beyond just labeling games. It’s also meant to give local Indonesian developers a clearer framework, which could help their games gain more credibility when competing in international markets.

IGRS on Steam: What Went Wrong

According to our sister website GamerWk, When IGRS ratings started appearing on Steam for Indonesian accounts, things quickly got confusing. Several games were showing up with the label “Not Fit for Distribution” including well-known titles like Persona 5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, The Sims 4, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The label made it look as though these games were banned or blocked in Indonesia, though no official explanation was given for what that status actually meant.

On top of that, some games were getting ratings that didn’t make sense with titles that would normally fall under “all ages” or “teen” categories were being labeled 18+. Others had no rating at all. Part of the problem comes down to how the system works on Steam. Publishers are required to submit their IGRS ratings manually, and not all of them have local representatives in Indonesia. That means a lot of games could go without ratings for some time.

The government eventually addressed the situation publicly. The ministry clarified that the ratings appearing on Steam at that time were not officially verified IGRS classifications. Instead, they were coming from Steam’s own internal system, where publishers self-declare their ratings which is a process separate from the official IGRS verification.

Because of this, they warned that the labels shown on Steam could be inaccurate or misleading. The ministry also stated that digital platforms are required to display information that is accurate and not misleading under Indonesian regulations. As a result, they planned to reach out to Steam directly for clarification and to work on making sure the system falls in line with local rules.

The government also said it would continue improving the IGRS system to make it more transparent, particularly around how ratings are verified and monitored. In the meantime, the public was advised not to treat the ratings shown on Steam as official or final.

In a recent update, the IGRS ratings have since been removed from Steam for Indonesian users. Games like Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are now showing their correct ratings again. Indonesian players are currently back to seeing ratings from PEGI, the European rating system that Steam commonly uses as a fallback.