Head of Xbox Calls for a Unifying Force in Gaming
Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox, on Monday blogged about how the gaming indusrty should unite to offer gaming to everyone and promote and protect the safety of all.
"Gaming must be a safe environment. Creating community is shared work, and protecting community is essential work, so, we all carry part of the payload of community safety – game industry and gamers alike," Spence said.
He said that gaming should be uniquely designed for equality and that the undustry should stand on equal footing, regardless of age, education, socioeconomics, race, religion, politics, gender, orientation, ethnicity, nationality, or ability.
"By uniting as an industry, we can thoughtfully and deliberately continue building a safe and inclusive gaming environment for everyone," he added.
Microsoft's Team Xbox is trying to identify potentials for abuse and misuse on its gaming platform and fix problems quickly. The team also promised to expand the composition of its safety team, tackle hate and harassment in gaming and create safe spaces for fans to discuss their favorite games.
Microsoft also plans to roll out new content moderation experiences to everyone on Xbox Live by the end of 2019. The company promised to make it easier for parents and guardians new to console and PC gaming to discover and create Child or Teen accounts.
The gaming community continues to grow rapidly, and the imminent roll-out of new game services such as Apple Arcade, Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud, will make gaming available to even more people worldwide. "Our industry must now answer the fierce urgency to play with our fierce urgency for safety," Spencer added.