Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
PlayStation (Games)

PlayStation To Require Age Verification For Messages and Voice Chat (insider-gaming.com) 55

A new email from Sony says that PlayStation will require players to verify their age later this year to keep using communication features like messages and voice chat. Insider-Gaming reports: The initiative comes from the goal of providing "safe, age-appropriate experiences for players and families while respecting their privacy" and providing "meaningful control over their gaming experiences." The age-verification process will be implemented globally, and players will need to verify their age to continue using PlayStation communication services, such as messages and voice chat. If the player opts not to verify their age, they can still use other services, such as games, trophies, and the store. Only the communication experience will be affected if you choose not to verify your age. PlayStation didn't provide a date for when players will need to begin the verification process.

PlayStation To Require Age Verification For Messages and Voice Chat

Comments Filter:
  • Ok (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

    Those services aren't needed anyway

    • Absolutely. Switching all those annoying features and overlays off was the very first thing I did after I bought my PS4. I've never missed them in any way.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Hopefully I can ditch my PS fairly quickly. I'll only need it until GTAVI gets a PC release.

  • by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @12:48AM (#66104474) Homepage Journal

    And let's also think about how we can harvest their parent's data

  • by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @04:38AM (#66104616)
    Grown-ups will have to choose their privacy, or their addiction. Also, this gives the Sony the identity of every child using their software, and which adult pays for it.

    The real problem is the consequences of their child customer's PII being stolen: Since a child's Id. is a blank slate, it will be much more valuable in a few years: Plenty of time for criminals to hang fake jobs and fake mortgages on the stolen identity.

    • You do age verification to show you are an adult, not a child. So, Sony doesn't need to store anything about a child, which means no PII at risk.
  • I kept my PS4 Pro disconnected long enough I could run an exploit. Now there's just a Raspberry Pi I use to proxy games onto GoldenHen. The PS5 firmware I'm on still hasn't had a hypervisor hack. Maybe someone will use AI for something useful and finally break it. Why people would connect this shit to the Internet is beyond me. Buy physical discs. If it doesn't come on a disc, it's not wroth playing until it can be pirated.
    • Games ship with big bugs, sometimes game breaking, and without connecting you generally don't get the updates. Are there downloadable updates made by the scene for some games? I used to see that on the original Xbox.

    • by Calydor ( 739835 )

      Kids in particular like multiplayer games. You kinda do need a connection for those as local co-op long since went the way of the dodo.

  • Have you ever been in voice chat? It's mostly kids using those things. I tried them out and was sorely disappointed because the people I was playing in the games seemed to be all SO much younger than me....so I just turned them off and played the game.

  • The same people pushing age verification also fight relentlessly against free breakfast and lunch at schools for kids.

    They don't care about children. They have never cared about children and they never will.
    • Why do you think that? Isn't California pushing age verification? Aren't a number of States, both red and blue?

      Without at least polling that supports your claim, we shouldn't assume this breaks on partisan lines.

      I think you've made a bad assumption.

  • Age verification for use period.

    These kids don't need to be playing games online. Get the fuck off the console and hit the books.

  • Good thing the Playstation network and Sony never get hacked and leak customer data. That's exactly who I'd trust to hold my ID and name and age.

There is no royal road to geometry. -- Euclid

Working...