Xbox’s Phil Spencer Sheds Interest In Cross-Platform Ban System

Over the course of the last console generation, Microsoft continued to push in droves for more support of cross-play titles on its platform. We already witnessed this with Minecraft in the initiative that both Microsoft & Nintendo shared for the game in 2018 at the time. However, over time, PlayStation eventually opened up to the officially enabling the feature for any game coming to the platform.

Recently, Xbox lead Phil Spencer spoke with The New York Times disclosing the current success of the Xbox Series systems so far. After the first year, it is determined that the two models already outperformed any previous Xbox platform, Spencer explained. It is projected the hardware sold more than 12 million units according to Niko Partners’ David Ahmad.

From the same interview with the outlet, Spencer also goes on to elaborate on ambitions to introduce a cross-platform ban system. He elaborates the tool would purify the playing field for users from toxic behavior online, GameSpot transcribes.

Something I would love us to be able to do–this is a hard one as an industry–is when somebody gets banned in one of our networks, is there a way for us to ban them across other networks? […] And I’d love to be able to bring them to other networks where I play. So this is the group of people that I choose not to play with. Because I don’t want to have to recreate that in every platform that I play video games on.

Additionally, Spencer also mentions a “banned user list” that could be introduced to understand which players apply to the hypothetical system for other platforms. He includes how Microsoft AI “monitor the sentiment of a conversation” for Xbox already and be able to detect “when a conversation is getting to a destructive point.”

While it is uncertain if Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan will agree with the ambition Spencer holds, the two do agree on one thing. The pair previously stated to be against the acts of Activision CEO Bobby Kotich in an open letter from the two respectively. You can read the full report by heading here.

Do you support the idea of a cross-platform ban system or no?