As of December 2, YouTube has changed the way it will moderate content on its video sharing platform that show video game violence. In a policy update, company will treat "scripted or simulated" violence in games just how it moderates content showing violence in TV shows and movies. They will not be more age restricted, allowing for a wider audience to view the videos.

This was seen to be coming as indicated in the final blog post addressed to content creators for 2019 by YouTube’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, which was seen as good news to video game content creators:

We’re also running experiments to help match content that could be considered edgy with advertising that fits their brand. As you know, yellow icons are a signal that only limited advertising can run on a particular video because of its content. We’re working to identify advertisers who are interested in edgier content, like a marketer looking to promote an R-rated movie, so we can match them with creators whose content fits their ads. In its first month, this program resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads on yellow icon videos.

But content creators will have to take note that “if the video focuses entirely on the most graphically violent part of a video game”, it may still be age restricted.

Funny, we do not know how YouTube treats airsoft “violence” since there are mixed reports on how airsoft content is treated with some videos being moderated and demonetized.  There are YouTube channels doing short films with an emphasis that these are using airsoft guns and the scenes that they depict are sometimes based on the violence in seen video games. In worse cases, they are demonetizes due to violations on the firearms policy of YouTube. That is something YouTube will have to clarify as well.