Xbox begins age verification in the UK in accordance with recent law — with restrictions beginning early next year
Xbox begins age verification in the UK in accordance with recent law — with restrictions beginning early next year
41 Comments
Fuck off
What is this bullshit, seriously. Who does it benefit?
Can fuck off
Does this also apply for games rated 18+?
Mental lol. Watch GTA6 take a hit in sales now the kids can’t play it.
I wonder if Roblox will do this also.
Has anyone told them that this didn’t apply to games and there is already an age verification system in place?
Drink your verification can to continue
For fucks sake!!! This is so dumb…..
Of course Microsoft wouldn’t waste the opportunity to harvest even more of peoples data.
Weird that everybody in the west is doing this shit.
I’m glad my kid won’t accidentally see a boob while being called slurs.
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Enjoy AI telling you your face looks like a teenager which is happening a lot in testing already, all because you got baby skin. And them having all your info too.
My Microsoft account is older then 18 years. I assume that’ll be enough to quell big brother asking for ID?
Steam, PSN, Nintendo, all of them have to comply with UK age verification. I’ve sent a letter to my mp about all this mess, and how it’s such a poor excuse of a law. I doubt it will do anything though.
Funnily enough, age verification wasn’t required for my account I guess cause the account itself is older than 18.
Edit: the law requires them to do this as it has user generated content. User generated content could be screenshots, posts, text chat, etc. Anything with user generated content has to age verify, no matter if that content is 18+ or not.
I remember when the only gatekeepers locking me out of inappropriate games as a kid were my parents and that was enough.
PROTECT THE CHILDREN…..
until they turn 18 and then fuck ’em. Can’t afford rent? Too bad. Can’t afford food? Not my problem. Will never own a house? Tough shit.
BUT WE MUST PROTECT THE CHILDREN.
From the Xbox website
“Starting early next year, age verification will be required for these players in the UK to retain full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice or text communication and game invites. Players who don’t verify their age between now and early 2026 can continue to play and enjoy Xbox. However, starting early next year, their use of social features on Xbox will become limited to friends only until they complete the age verification process. Whether a player verifies their age will not affect any previous purchases, entitlements, gameplay history, achievements, or the ability to play and purchase games, however we encourage players to verify their age via this one-time process now to avoid uninterrupted use of social features on Xbox in the future.”
Is Windows level verification on the horizon?
lol, love that kids are using the hyper realistic face of Norman Reedus from Death Standing 2 to get around this for Discord.
Just intergrate this with the debit/credit card provider then if they are so hungry for it. If im paying with my card get them to confirm it and skip me apporiving it via microsoft.
lmao UK slowly but surely will end joining the restricted online usage *by the government* list together with places like, Cuba, Egypt, and such *at first,* to eventually end like China/Iran/Russia if they don’t move their asses soon.
Won’t someone please think of the children!
Can anyone from the UK tell me who this is good for or why you want it?
> At some point early next year, users who fall into the above category and do not verify their age will be limited to playing online with friends. This won’t have any impact on buying games and add-ons, or any other non-social features.
What? Can buy the 18+ games but just limits social interaction. I don’t get it. Also, does that mean it’ll just block any use of multiplayer games like Roblox or Elder Scrolls Online?
Anyway, honestly considering getting a credit card for this since everywhere else has decided to do it too just so I don’t have to have my image uploaded. Idk a thing about credit cards though, can you get one “for free” and just never use it except for the occasional “we’re charging you 1p and refunding it to check this card” charge?
Sorry but UK sounds dystopian.
Wondering if GTA6 will be banned in the UK or require age verification to play.
Thank you Collective Shout and religious conservatives for intruding on our personal rights with bullshit like this.
And yeah I’m not British but it doesn’t matter since this can just as likely happen in my country of Sweden and i will stand by in solidarity with the Brits.
How would proper and efficient age verification work is my question. I agree there are applications for it. Hell Reddit is one of them. But what solution is there for both privacy and verification? I’m sure there has to be something out there.
Tbf, Sony and Nintendo (and Steam and other PC stores) are most likely going to do something similar too
I’ve got an @live.com email address that came with my original Xbox, does that count? Lol
Sounds like Sam Porter Bridges has more work to do
What company is responsible for holding and protecting people’s ID’s? Microsoftjust had a SharePoint hack. We’re supposed to have them secure photo IDs and other forms of ID?
Wait so… a game like say Fortnite, which is exclusively online, playing with other people not on your friends list… will that require verification? It says you can still play with friends… but most games are tens of people who you’re obviously not friends with?
Lot of kids gonna have really expensive digital Barbie’s essentially, that they can’t actually do anything with
Such a bullshit law
So, when does this bullshit start affecting the everyday stuff? Can’t read the news because you need to be over 18 to read this article about a serial killer, or coverage of gaza, or Ukraine. Can’t access netflix, prime, disney+, etc. Because it’s 18+ content. Can’t access Wikipedia to learn about sexual health. But thank goodness we stopped all the kids watching porn, or wait, they’ve also resorted to dangerous websites, vpns and piracy now.
I encourage everyone to read the Xbox Wire post and Not Windows Central – as they’ve made their own assumptions and warped the things Xbox have directly said…
“Starting early next year, age verification will be required for these players in the UK to retain full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice or text communication and game invites. Players who don’t verify their age between now and early 2026 can continue to play and enjoy Xbox. However, starting early next year, their use of social features on Xbox will become limited to friends only until they complete the age verification process. Whether a player verifies their age will not affect any previous purchases, entitlements, gameplay history, achievements, or the ability to play and purchase games”
If looks like voice and text chat is what you’ll lose if you don’t verify (with strangers), and getting invites off people you don’t know.
It also says it doesn’t affect PREVIOUSLY bought games, which is worded to imply that it could possibly stop you buying 18 rated games if you don’t verify.
Also, it says this…
“As this age verification process rolls out across the UK, we’ll continue to evaluate how we can keep players around the world safe and learn from the UK process. We expect to roll out age verification processes to more regions in the future.”
They’re going to do age verifications in more regions (most likely America and Canada next, then other big regions) – so it’s NOT just the UK
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/07/28/xbox-age-verification-uk/
Thinking a better way would be to do the age check with the ISP & mobile network providers, to gain access to internet based services. Rather than having to go through this process for every service on the internet.
Gamers “here you go Microsoft have my credit card details so i can buy games/gamepass”
Also gamers “fuck off Microsoft you arent having my credit card details to confirm me age”
You got a loicense for that Xbox Loive Porty?