PlaySafe ID for game studios & developers

The Online Safety Act is a law that is designed to make the internet safer for users within the United Kingdom, in particular for children. It is regulated by Ofcom, the independent communications regulator within the UK on behalf of Parliament.

Although it came into law in 2023, Ofcom has been staggering its deployment and enforcement. Up until now the focus has been on “primary priority content” (the most illegal or harmful content) on the largest platforms.

It is now being enforced across all regulated platforms (games are included).
Fines are £18m or 10% of global turnover, whichever is greater.

The short version:
Because they are classified as user-to-user internet services under the legislation, and because Ofcom (the independent regulator) say they are.

We encourage you to read the whitepaper below for full context and breakdown of the legislation and statements from Ofcom.

Long version:
Services who have users in the UK (1.1) need to be safe by design (1.3.a) and have a higher standard of protection for children than adults (1.3.b.i), whilst providing transparency and accountability in relation to those services. (1.3.b.iii).

Games are user-to-user internet services, as they are an internet service (”a service that is made available by means of the internet (228.1)) by means of which content (see definitions) that is generated directly on the service by a user may be encountered by another user(s) of the service (3.1) specifically in regards to users being able to communicate and send messages to each other (55.3). You are a “regulated user-to-user service if your game has links with the United Kingdom (4.2.a), which means that users from the United Kingdom are a target market for your game, children from the United Kingdom are likely to play your game, or your game is likely to appeal to children(4.6.a).

16th April 2025:
ALL services in scope of the act need to have carried out children’s access assessments.

July 2025:
ALL services in scope of the act must comply with children safety duties.

IMPORTANT: Spring 2025:
Consultation on additional Codes of Practice measures, including proposals on extending the role of highly effective age assurance to protect children from grooming.

1. You have to integrate “highly effective age assurance” to your game.

2. You have to complete a Children’s Access Assessment by 16th April 2025,

3. You then have to comply with your Children’s Safety Duties as of July 2025.

Why do I have to integrate “highly effective age assurance?”
You have to do this for a few reasons:

• You cannot complete the children’s access assessment without it (ofcom and the legislation says so),

• After the assessment, you will need it to comply with your children safety duties.

For details on the children’s access assessment, click here.
For steps you need to take to comply with the Online Safety Act, please read the official guidance from Ofcom (link here).

The Online Safety Act and Ofcom state that “highly effective age assurance” includes: photo-identification (photo-ID) matching, facial age estimation, mobile network operator (MNO) age checks, credit card checks, and reusable Digital ID services.

You have to ensure that any such other method needed to meets four criteria – technical accuracy, robustness, reliability and fairness – for Ofcom to consider it capable of being highly effective.

You can read more about this on the following statement from Ofcom (Section 3: Ofcom’s approach to highly effective age assurance).Link here

• Our process is considered “highly effective age assurance”, and complies with the four criteria set by Ofcom.

• We are a reusable digital identity provider, which is approved by Ofcom. We KYC and verify users, and issue them a PlaySafe ID which they can use across games and services.

• PlaySafe ID pays the KYC bill so you don’t have to.

• We only surface the user’s age to you, not their date of birth. This keeps you from ingesting any new PII (personally identifiable information), so you don’t have to manage anything new regarding data privacy, GDPR, or the e-privacy directive.

• You just integrate an endpoint from our API to get the users age, and we’ve handled the rest.

We partner with OnFido for the KYC, and they have the highest possible rating from the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework. Between the two of us, our setup ensures that all our process constitutes highly effective age assurance, whilst minimising disruption and effort from your side.

For games, two things:

1. Child safety
   We permanently ban any PlaySafe ID which has been caught grooming, sextorting, or taking advantage of children. We keep predators and bad-actors out so they cannot access another PlaySafe ID user ever again. Our priority is keeping children safe.

2. Enhanced anti-cheat through accountability
   We issue penalties to PlaySafe ID users caught using software or hardware to cheat, hack, or bot (to gain an unfair advantage over other players). This can range from a ban for a few weeks, to months, or even longer. Players are sick of cheating ruining their experience, and they are excited to have an optional environment where they can play knowing everyone is playing by the rules.

3. Online Safety Act compliance
   And of course as covered in the points above, we ensure your compliance regarding highly effective age assurance with Ofcom and the Online Safety Act.

We have produced a whitepaper on the Online Safety Act and its impact for the games industry. It includes a full breakdown of the legislation and statements from the independent regulator Ofcom.

You can read it by clicking this link, or the button just below: Link to whitepaper