Microsoft isn’t just fighting the FTC; they’re also trying to tackle abuse and toxicity in Xbox games. To do this, Microsoft is introducing a new feature that will let Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One players capture 60-second video clips of abusive or otherwise inappropriate voice chat and then automatically have that clip submitted to moderators for review.
The tool was designed with ease of use in mind and to minimise the impact on gameplay. When players capture a clip for reporting, it will stay on the Xbox console for 24 hours. Meaning players will have the option to submit it right away or wait until after they’ve finished playing.
Xbox will also send a reminder before the 24 hours are up. If players have decided not to push the report through, the clip will automatically be deleted. If players choose to report, they will receive a notification after the safety team has reviewed the report and if action was taken against the abusive player.
The vice president of Xbox Player Services, Dave McCarthy, said:
“This feature is purpose-built to support the broadest arena of in-game interactions between players and works across thousands of games that offer in-game multiplayer voice chat, including Xbox 360 backwards-compatible titles.”
Currently, Xbox plans to use various moderation tools that leverage AI and human moderators to analyse the clips and determine if someone has violated the community standards.
Xbox’s decision to tackle the problem of toxic voice chat at a platform-wide level closely mimics what the PlayStation 5 has had since 2020. Several other game studios have also taken a similar approach, with Riot recording all Valorant voice communications but only listening to them when a report is filed.
To start, Xbox’s new voice reporting feature will be available for Alpha and Alpha-skip Xbox Insiders; hoping that these insiders will provide feedback to help improve the feature before its rolled out to a broader player base.