Microsoft has formally announced that it will ban Baldur's Gate 3 gamers for uploading videos that include graphic content. The creator of the game Larian, stated last week that they will be working with Microsoft to resolve the problem, in which some Xbox users had their accounts banned for sharing video that showed graphic sexual content from the game.
Larian's director of publishing, Michael Douse, was upset with the situation on Xbox, calling it "annoying and uncool." Now that Xbox's support account has commented on the matter, it is confirmed that the bans in Baldur's Gate 3 were planned and not accidental. Notably, bans may occur even for gamers whose consoles automatically uploaded explicit content, though they may also be cancelled in certain situations.
In an attempt to provide clarification regarding Baldur's Gate 3's enforcement of mature content, Xbox said,
"To provide clarity on Baldur’s Gate 3 mature content enforcement actions, Xbox account suspensions are not automatic. Each clip is reviewed by a moderator and, if found in violation of our safety and content policies, actioned accordingly."
The statement went on to say that the team considers appeals and has the authority to lift suspensions if they are found to be incorrect, particularly in the case of first-time offenders. The reason behind the ban is explained to players, and they are given tips on how to avoid similar problems in the future, like turning off auto-upload for sensitive material.
Despite this justification, some players disagreed with the policy's reinforcement. Microsoft was questioned by an Xbox customer, who said,
"Just checking. This is from a game you allow to be bought and played on your console, correct?"
An additional user offered a different strategy, saying,
"Nobody should be getting suspended. Instead, users who block M-rated games in their family settings should not see any clips from any M-rated games. Shouldn’t be any more complicated than that."
Baldur's Gate 3, which debuted in August on the PC and the following month on the PS5 and Mac, has been both critically and commercially successful. The game was named Game of the Year at The Game Awards in December, the same month that it made its Xbox debut.