Microsoft has joined USK.online to work together on high youth protection standards in the company’s online gaming offerings.
In the future, USK.online will support Microsoft in ensuring a family-friendly gaming environment as well as compliance with a high level of protection in the area of legal youth media protection. Microsoft has a broad footprint in the gaming world, reaching from its Xbox consoles and the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 devices over the subscription service Xbox Game Pass to various games for console and PC that already build on the important foundations of youth protection.
Elisabeth Secker, Managing Director of the USK: “We are pleased to support Microsoft, one of the leading international gaming companies, in the area of youth protection. The protection of minors and the family-friendly design of offerings are a major challenge, especially given a large amount of content on different platforms. Working together with companies to promote up-to-date and practicable protection for minors, which both helps parents find their way around and gives children and young people the opportunity to use content safely based on their parents’ default settings, is an elementary component of achieving a higher level of protection.”
Qumar Jamil, Principal Lead Certification and Game Ratings at Microsoft: “Microsoft is built on trust. A cornerstone of that trust is online safety and the ability for parents to make informed decisions about what content is best for their family. We are pleased to partner with USK to ensure the highest standards of safety for our customers and look forward to being able to count on USK.online’s expertise in the area of youth protection within gaming in the future.”
About the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK)
The Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK) is an institution that was created voluntarily by the digital games industry.
It is responsible for the classification of digital games according to age-appropriateness in Germany. The USK is state-recognized as an official self-regulator under both the Federal Youth Protection Act and the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media. According to the Youth Protection Act, state representatives issue the statutory age rating symbols based on the recommendation of independent youth protection experts. In addition, the USK also issues age ratings within the international IARC system for online games and apps. Numerous companies have joined the USK as members to cooperate permanently and closely on the topic of youth protection.
An advisory board advises the USK. Among other things, it determines the USK principles and the guiding principles for the classification procedure.
