UK Online Safety Act impacts Gamers On Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation and Nintendo Switch

13 Aug UK Online Safety Act impacts Gamers On Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation and Nintendo Switch

This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine

Sausalito, Calif. – Aug. 13, 2025

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Microsoft just lately shared particulars about how the UK Online Safety Act (OSA) will impression Xbox’s social options, which is able to now require age verification.

Xbox’s VP of gaming belief and security Kim Kunes announced that their compliance program has began and any UK-based participant who signifies their account age as 18 and over will start seeing notifications encouraging them to confirm their age. Starting in early 2026, age verification will probably be required to retain full entry to social options on Xbox, together with voice and textual content chat, in addition to recreation invitations.

The OSA applies to all gaming platforms, together with consoles, PC-based methods, and Mobile gaming apps. Sony Playstation, Nintendo Switch, Steam, Epic Games, and different main manufacturers have responded to the OSA.

Charlie Osborne, our London-based Editor-at-Large, just lately got here on the Cybercrime Magazine Podcast to discuss the OSA, which kicked in with full effect Jul. 25 – and wherever you’re on the planet, in case your video games goal UK customers, or are even ‘likely’ to be performed by kids within the UK, you’re legally obligated to conform.

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