It is rare to see the three major manufacturers of the video game industry hand in hand. The last time was at The Game Awards 2018, to give a beautiful image of solidarity between the three manufacturers. There were on stage Shawn Layden of PlayStation, Reggie Fils Aimé of Nintendo, and Phil Spencer of Microsoft. Since then, two of them have left their posts (namely Shawn Layden and Reggie Fils Aimé) But Phil Spencer is still in place. Following this happening, we had thought that we would never see these three video game giants supporting each other again. Rude mistake since Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation have unveiled a joint press release to discuss their major common measures to ensure the safety of players. The program is divided into three main areas: Prevention, Partnership, and responsibility, which are detailed below.
Prevention: we allow players and parents to better understand and fully control gaming experiences.
- We offer controls that allow players to customize their gaming experience. We support parents with the tools and information needed to create appropriate gaming experiences for their children.
- We recognize that security features must be easy to use to be useful. We will promote the availability of our security tools through our platforms, support channels, services, on our websites, and in retail stores to reach more players and parents.
- We continually inform parents and players through our codes of conduct, terms of Use, and best practices.
- We invest in technology to help eliminate inappropriate conduct and content before it can put a player’s safety at risk.
Partnership: we are committed to partnering with industry, regulators, law enforcement agencies and our communities to promote user safety.
- The industry’s commitment to safety is paramount. We believe we have an opportunity to collaborate in a way that will benefit the video game industry and all players to provide a secure gaming experience.
- We work with industry commercial organizations, industry members, regulators, law enforcement agencies, and specialists to develop and improve online security initiatives.
- We are committed to conducting shared research to benefit the industry.
- We believe that hatred and harassment or exploitation of young players, in any way, have no place in the video game industry. We partner with our community to promote safe and respectful gambling behaviors and encourage the use of reporting tools to report bad actions.
- We work with rating agencies like ESRB and PEGI to ensure our games are directed to the appropriate audience.
Responsibility: we are responsible for making our platforms as secure as possible for all players.
- We allow players to easily report violations of our Code of conduct and, in addition to removing content, we impose appropriate penalties for violations, including preventing players from using our services for the wrong purposes.
- We comply with all local laws and will respond to all legal requests from law enforcement. We promptly notify law enforcement if we observe illegal behavior or if we believe a player is at risk of imminent harm.
- We publish our rules and requirements, and we ensure that players who have been flagged understand the requirements for continued engagement with our platforms.