A recent post to the official Xbox News website contains a statement entitled “Our Shared Commitment to Safer Gaming.” It represents a joint statement made by the teams behind the Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch consoles, the current most popular and widely used consoles.
The statement recognizes that games are played and enjoyed by people of all ages, including children and their parents. It lists the ways in which the three companies are committed to protecting their players and, in particular, making it possible for parents to keep their children safe while playing online.
The approach the companies claim to take to ensure safer gaming is broken down into three primary categories:
- Prevention – Empower players and parents to understand and control gaming experiences.
- Partnership – We commit to partnering with the industry, regulators, law enforcement, and our communities to advance user safety.
- Responsibility – We hold ourselves accountable for making our platforms as safe as possible for all players.
Within each category, the three companies have made specific commitments and promises. “Prevention” includes making safety features easy to use and accessible to all. “Partnership” involves working with rating agencies such as the ESRB and PEGI, as well as working with the gaming community itself to limit harassment and bullying of players. Finally, “Responsibility” covers compliance with local, national and international laws as well as implementing an infrastructure which makes reporting issues and violations easier for all players.
The statement ends with an acknowledgment that “we [Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation] recognize that no one company or industry will solve these challenges alone.” This seems to indicate a further commitment to working together to promote gamer safety in the future.
What are your thoughts on this unexpected joint statement? What changes do you think Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation need to make to promote safety for all players? Let us know!
