PS5 will allow users to record voice chat for moderation purposes

Today it revealed by Sony that the PS5 interface, still under wraps, will have an intriguing new function – the ability for users to record voice chats in order to share them with Sony for moderation purposes.

This became known when a system update for PS4 (version 8.0) rolled out yesterday and players started to see warning about ‘Party Safety’ and recorded voice chats.

The confusion was soon put to rest when Sony’s Sid Shuman, senior director, SIE Content Communications. Added a note to the update blog entry to explain the messages.

“Following this update, users are seeing a notification about Party Safety and that voice chats in parties may be recorded. Voice chat recording for moderation is a feature that will be available on PS5 when it launches, and will enable users to record their voice chats on PS5 and submit them for moderation review.

“The pop up you’re seeing on PS4 right now is to let you know that when you participate in a chat with a PS5 user (post-launch), they may submit those recordings from their PS5 console to SIE.”

This is an intriguing move on Sony’s part. Obviously it will let the platform better police the language that players use towards each other, and try to remove the most abusive players from the ecosystem, or at least remove their ability to chat to others possibly.

That the feature is coming to PS5 and not to PS4 likely shows that it’s some effort to get it up-and-running, presumably there will be an option through the share button to report such chat abuses. Even still the console will have to be recording a constant buffer of chat in order to achieve this, much in the way the current console can for video.

It looks to be a step forward to us, although it will depend on Sony having the personnel or some pretty amazing AI (or both in combination) in order to actually deal with the inevitable wave of submitted content.

Oh and if you’re part of the problem, then we suggest using the new ‘mute all mics’ option in the 8.0 update’s Quick Menu. The update also included enhanced 2-step verification, and updates to PS4 Remote Play, which will now be known as simply PS Remote Play.