Microsoft starts rolling out Xbox age verification in the UK

Microsoft is starting to comply with the UK online security law by encouraging Xbox players to check their age today. The prompts will be displayed to Xbox players who indicate that they are over 18 years old and will be displayed when you connect to an Xbox account in the United Kingdom. Microsoft says that it also explores bringing it to age verification tools similar to other countries in the future.

To supply age verification in the United Kingdom, Microsoft is associated with Yoti, which is one of the services that has not been the victim of the Death of death Holding in photo mode. Although age verification checks are optional at the moment, they will become a requirement to access a variety of Xbox services at the beginning of 2026, when additional parts of the UK online security law enter into force.

“From the beginning of next year, an age verification will be necessary for these players in the United Kingdom to retain full access to social features on Xbox, such as voice communication or text and game invitations,” explains Kim Kunes, vice-president of confidence and safety of games and security at Xbox. If you do not check your age by early next year, social features “will be limited to friends only” until the age verification process is finished.

“The fact that a player checks his age will not affect purchases, rights, history, achievements or the possibility of playing and buying games, but we encourage players to check their age via this unique process to avoid the uninterrupted use of social features on Xbox in the future,” said Kuns.

Although this is limited to Xbox players in the United Kingdom at the moment, KUNES says: “We are expecting to deploy age verification processes in more regions in the future.” Microsoft does not reveal which other regions will obtain similar age verification requirements, but KUNES notes that “these methods can be different between regions and experiments”.

If you are in the United Kingdom, you can check your age for your online Xbox account via Microsoft, where you can use a selfie, an analysis of your passport or your driving license, checking credit cards or mobile number.