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Sony has clarified more details about a controversial new PlayStation voice chat recording feature, first mentioned in its recent 8.0 update earlier this week, after some users were led to believe that the company would record and moderate. actively conversations between private groups.
In a new blog post on Friday, Catherine Jensen, Sony’s vice president of global consumer experience, admits that the company “should have explained more clearly why this feature was being implemented.”
Jensen now confirms that Sony will not actively listen to voice chats at all when the feature launches with the PS5 next month. “Its sole purpose is to help report inappropriate behavior, including actions that violate our Community Code of Conduct,” he writes. “Please note that this feature will not actively monitor or listen to your conversations, ever, and is strictly reserved for reporting abuse or harassment online.”
Instead, the company says the feature will record the last five minutes of any private voice chat continuously. That way, if a user encounters harassment or something that they believe violates Sony’s rules on gamer behavior, they can submit a clip of up to 40 seconds for Sony’s moderation team to review. That will include 20 seconds of potentially offensive behavior as selected by the user, with 10 seconds before and 10 seconds after the selected segment to add context.
“These reports can be sent directly through the PS5 console and will be sent to our Consumer Experience team for moderation, who will then listen to the recording and take action, if necessary. Some reports submitted will not be valid and our team will use this as an opportunity to provide guidance and education, ”explains Jensen.
She goes on to say that there will be no option to opt out of voice chat recording, because Sony wants “all users to feel safe when playing with others online, not just those who choose to enable it.”
