Xbox plans to roll out age verification to more countries outside of the UK

Xbox says it’s planning to launch age verification worldwide at some point in the future.

In a blog post, the company explained that it’s begun rolling out age verification in the UK to comply with the region’s Online Safety Act and plans to expand this “to more regions in the future.” This means that any Xbox user who’s marked themselves as 18 or older will have to verify that they are indeed of that age using government ID.

Xbox notes that this is a one-time process and won’t be required for UK users until early 2026. For now, they’ll be able to use the full suite of Xbox features without issue. However, the company encourages people to verify now to enjoy “uninterrupted” access. That’s because those who don’t verify by early next year will have social features limited to friends only.

For verification, the blog post features both a QR code and a link to a website. Presumably, such options will also be offered once age verification expands to other areas.

That said, it will be interesting to see whether Xbox bolsters the accuracy of its age verification process ahead of its planned worldwide expansion. In recent weeks, we’ve seen Discord users in the UK skirt around age verification by using none other than Death Stranding 2‘s lifelike photo mode. Apparently, all it takes is a photorealistic Norman Reedus.

Source: Xbox Via: Engadget