The UK has just recently passed the UK Online Safety Act, and despite almost 400,000 signatures being signed to repeal it, the UK government has stayed firm on its implementation.
Discord recently fell in line with this act, requiring age verification for certain servers, but unlike that, Xbox’s new 18+ moderation can’t be worked around with a few stills of Sam Bridges from Death Stranding. I know. I checked.
According to Microsoft’s Xbox Wire blog, starting today, “players who indicate their account age as 18 and over, based in the UK, and signing into an Xbox experience with a Microsoft account will begin seeing notifications encouraging them to verify their age”.
There are four ways you can verify your identity with Xbox. They are:
- Age estimation with webcam
- ID Verification
- Credit card check
- Check mobile number with mobile provider
The age estimation is the method that has caught some traction recently for other apps because, well, it’s not very good. Any semi-real-looking video game character has managed to get around them, as long as there’s a photo mode or some way of making their mouth or head move around.
However, the age estimation for Xbox is done with a partner named Yoti, and I couldn’t seem to get around like I did with the Discord age verification. I used my actual face and got through the verification after just a little bit of adjusting my light and moving my hair.
For now, Microsoft will just regularly remind you to verify, like a Windows pop-up telling you to update. However, Microsoft states, “Starting early next year, age verification will be required for these players in the UK to retain full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice or text communication and game invites.”
You will still be able to play Xbox games with your age unverified (and no note is made of age ratings on games you own), you just won’t have access to social features.
If you don’t live in the UK (lucky you) and think you’ve got off without these restrictions, the Xbox blog says, “As this age verification process rolls out across the UK, we’ll continue to evaluate how we can keep players around the world safe and learn from the UK process. We expect to roll out age verification processes to more regions in the future.” Microsoft does say there’s some nuance to the rollout outside of the UK and that it will be working with countries to create more bespoke solutions to age verification.
You can currently verify your identity via webcam on PC or via your mobile phone, and there’s no method to do so directly from Xbox, though I wouldn’t mind watching people try to verify their age via Kinect. It would be a good excuse to blow the dust off that era of Xbox.