Details on new voice chat functionality coming to PS5

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Details on new voice chat functionality coming to PS5

A message from PlayStation’s Global Consumer Experience team.

Hi everyone. I’m Catherine Jensen, and I head up the Global Consumer Experience division here at PlayStation. Our department works every day to create the best possible gaming experience for our community on PlayStation Network. We also manage the @AskPlayStation customer support channel and create troubleshooting guides to help gamers find solutions. Our goal is to help foster a fun and positive experience when you’re playing online with friends and other gamers.

Managing online safety is an important part of ensuring that. We believe that it’s critical that gamers be able to quickly and accurately report abuse or harassment if they experience it while on PlayStation Network. As part of this initiative, we’ve been preparing to roll out a new feature on the PS5 console that enables gamers to report verbal harassment through a new Voice Chat reporting function. Its sole purpose is to help in reporting of inappropriate behavior, including actions that violate our Community Code of Conduct. Please note that this feature will not actively monitor or listen in on your conversations – ever – and it’s strictly reserved for reporting online abuse or harassment. 

PlayStation gamers learned about this new function in an unexpected way following the recent PS4 8.00 system update. We didn’t clearly communicate this feature or explain why we were introducing it, and we apologize for that. When the PS5 console launches in November, PS5 users will be able to chat with PS4 users — which is why we needed to include an advisory with the latest PS4 system update. 

We should have more clearly explained why this function was being rolled out, along with details on how it will work on the PS5 console, so let me walk you through that now. 

Once the PS5 console launches, if a PS5 player needs to file a harassment report, they will be able to include up to a 40 second-long Voice Chat clip in their report — 20 seconds of the main conversation with the other player, plus an additional 10 seconds before and after the conversation selection. Only the most recent five minutes of a Voice Chat will be available for a player to use for this reporting function.

These reports can be submitted directly through the PS5 console, and will be sent to our Consumer Experience team for moderation, who will then listen to the recording and take action, if needed. Some submitted reports won’t be valid, and our team will take this as an opportunity to provide guidance and education. There won’t be an option to opt-out of this Voice Chat recording function because we want all users to feel safe when playing with others online, not just those who choose to enable it.

Thanks for reading, and I’m hoping this gives you a better idea about our goals for this new function. We appreciate your support, and want you to know that our team will always work to create a positive experience on PlayStation so you can focus on playing great games and having fun with your friends.

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355 Comments

  • Not being able to opt out of our invasion of privacy is just wrong….period.

  • Revert the party system back to normal! Just because you want to crack down on harassment doesn’t mean you needed to completely revert it to something that just doesn’t work with us at all. Making private parties and sending invites to friends is ESSENTIAL to having a good party experience. The new system is dumb, overly complicated and just doesn’t work at all

  • I don’t think the party system is going to be very popular going forward. afterall you’ve essentially changed the share button into a cancel user button via party chat, just to capitalise on people who might feel the need to repurchase whatever it is you unlawfully took. This kind of draconian practice is the sorta thing we expect to see from ea, bethesda 2k etc not Sony.

    if you genuinely cared about your community this would never have been considered, I’ve been a PS fan since the very beginning day 1. I’ve never regretted it til now. Maybe people struggle to see through the excuses and or reasons as to why you have chosen to go the route your taking, but I promise you people will eventually catch on and this won’t fly far.

    always been excited for the new machine, always enjoyed unboxing and setting up, but until we – your community see changes everything will leave a sour taste. So wake up please.

    • It’s fortunate for you it sounds like you haven’t had the experience that a lot of users have had. It’s unfortunate that you’re regretting being a PlayStation user and I wish that you could understand what a lot of us are going through or have been going through!

  • This was a awful change and while I would love to voice my opinion more but then they would take this comment down.

  • I for one think that it’s a welcome addition. I have had several instances in the past with people using racial slurs but I have not been getting any feedback from Sony when I report them. I am really glad that you guys are doing this. I know that you had negative feedback about it but it’s for the best for everybody. Thank you once again

    • So block that person. Why does everyone have to suffer because you cant block unwanted attention?

    • I’ve already said this earlier in another comment, but this policy is regarding recording your *private psn chat party* invite based chats, not public in game chat. So unless you join random sony parties outside of games, or invite random people to private parties, this has nothing to do with what you’re thinking it will help with.

  • Fantastic. Now, when can I expect the next round of PS5 pre-orders? Why does Sony have a issue with console demand?

  • This is absolutely ridiculous. You attempted to fix something that was not broken. On top of that, you’re now bugging our conversations??? What kind of privacy infringement is this?!! Does Sony want me to go to Microsoft ??

  • I’m sorry but why did you have to screw it all up to achieve this. You guys made it where we can’t see other partys and we can only send one inv to an individual. Like what if the inv times out and he wanted to join. It’s not cool and useless to do this to the system. You guys could have just kept the old system but made it how it needs.

  • Wow does the new Store suck. I can’t find anything I purchased for the PS3 or Vita. And each system’s store runs so poorly from their respective platforms that I can’t even access the content I want.

    I hope the people that signed off on this and enacted this decision reverse course.

    This experience is terrible.

  • Sony could make an option to disable both voice chat and recording feature simultaneously and let people choose

    • They could also correctly plan out a system that applies to minors and their parent accounts or somehow helps with in game public chat, instead of recording private party invite based chat which has literally nothing to do with safety or bettering anyone’s experience.

    • Disable voice chat = message each other

  • There’s no way I will allow you to record me and I prefer to not use feature or product that does that.

  • How about information on compatible SSD expansion? i’m gonna need to upgrade from your woefully inadequate 600gb or so, as soon as possible.

  • Please remove the report quote out of context feature from parties. These details do not improve the reduction of quality of life. I can’t believe how poorly timed and I’ll conceived this feature is given the current social and political unrest in the United States right now. Basically brought the real world in and provided these individuals with one more weapon to beat each other over the head with.

    Give me back the old party system or give me more access control. Allow me to have the lobby setup to not record under any circumstance. If the user doesn’t like it then they can choose not to join. I refuse to be policed by strangers I can’t trust.

    • You are still free to make private parties as everyone has to be invited now you can’t just jump into a random party

  • Positive experience?…having fun with our friends?…hmm the irony…so can you PLEASE bring back the ability to be able to see through the PS4 our friends that are online and what they’re playing on PS3 and Vita?…it’s not positive nor fun when I can’t see ma friends that only play on PS3 and Vita,nor when they can’t see me.Removing that is probably the most selfish and unnecessary action you guys have taken.

  • Bueno que sepáis que voy a tomar acciones legales contra vosotros por atentar contra mi privacidad que para eso creo un grupo privado, Agencia Española de protección de datos y organización de consumidores los primeros en ser informados sobre esto que estáis imponiendo y es ilegal

  • What an absolutely atrocious feature. You should feel nothing but shame, Sony.

  • All they had to do is remove the option to share your voice. The PlayStation is already recording video via the share option. That way Sony could verify with video that it was not just someone mad because they got beat.
    But instead of just using something already there they completely changed the chat features making it more of a pain to use.
    Something to add would have been volume sliders for everyone in the party… So you could equalize your friends without having to ask them to turn their mic up or down on their end.
    Sony needs to take from stand alone chat programs like discord or ventrilo,etc. But instead it seems they are trying to compete with Nintendo for most worthless voice chat.

  • This is the worst update ever. I cannot see what parties are active and who is in them? Why? This was a great way to determine whether there was an available spot to join in on a squad or allowed us to choose not to disrupt an already full squad. Please fix this, as it is diminishing the player experience.

  • 2020 has been an awful year and update 8.00 is not helping. If the update is here to stay consider the following recommedndations.

    PlayStation 4 and 5 User Experience for party chats recommendation.
    • Public parties – a party that is open to all of your friends to join without any invites to a message chat and bring back community parties.
    • NSFW chat – a party that is exempt from most of the offensive language policy.
    o 18+ only
    o Offensive language policy
    > Except for derogatory language.

  • I will be investigating a petition to ban this type of behavior from companies like Sony, fb etc.. PRIVATE party chats, message groups etc are private for a reason.. you have no legal grounds to invade people’s privacy and the Supreme Court will shut you down for it regardless of “you signed the tos”.. you legally CAN NOT monitor and invade private chats amongst friends who banter and give each other crap.. that’s absolutely intolerable moving to the #pcmasterrace crowd i guess. Also i like how you claim to not be monitoring chats but here you guys are plucking messages between a friend and me claiming “abusive behavior” lol imbeciles

  • Well let’s applaud PS for attacking this issue. Ive been playing online games for years, and the worst players, are the wannabe white players. Yelling N words, telling people to off themselves…They did this to us not Playstation. And I’ve always tried to diffuse situations…CSGO is completely toxic..It has been better as of late, but its completely unacceptable to harass someone as if its their private sever. Its low class, and I have know idea what some these parents are teaching today. We’ve all experienced this, and please understand, those actions create other negative actions..people try to respond with more vitriol. Ive played games where guys called people N words, have avatars of Dillon Roof who killed innocent people in South Carolina..not even 3 days after the shooting. I mean people so insecure, such losers in life, they embrace anyone or any group of people regardless of race, thats going thru tragedy. That’s sad, they did it to us and I believe this is just a start.

    • Please re-read the article. They are going to be recording your private invite based psn party chat. These new changes do not apply and have nothing to do with in game chat.

  • I absolutely do not agree with this system. Not only did you break the Party chats. But you even broke the mute button? You guys could’ve done better about this and personally I am seriously fed up with these useless updates.Have y’all ever played Call of Duty? That place is a nightmare in game chat…

  • the harassment thing is just an excuse. they stopped private parties yet how many people get harassed in private? if you mute someone because you’ve fallen out, they can still hear and record anything you say in anger. everyone is literally thrown in together, Why?

    money.

    they whine at us about how PSN needs a price bump and then remove features and strip it down. If this failiure of a network isn’t resolved to my satisfaction the ps5 will go on ebay just in time for christmas. Because I’m gunna be just fine gaming on PC in the future.

    people get offended by raindrops in 2020, just seems like sony is capitalising on that and it’s painfully obvious. PSN isn’t twitter and changing the share button into Cancel button is just going to make tons of people ditch playstation. Only thing is it’s not out yet once the controvesies start I’m guessing they will backtrack this stupidity. but by then the damage will be done. Besides in a pandemic tempers will fly.

    doesn’t mean you take the easy way out and make an absolute dumpster fire of a network. old to new is like going from steam to epic games store.

  • Not only does this break the already good party system but now adults can be banned or temp. Banned for cursing?! Idk if you have ever played a game called call of duty but galf of the chat between enemy teams is trash talk and there is a lot of cursing. Sony just effectively gave microsoft at least 20% of its possible customers fornthe next gen consoles. I really wanted to get a ps5 but now that I know I will be punished for swearing and potentially be banned for a month for it, well now i may just get the xbox one instead and i have seen the same response from almost every playstation fan i know and also seen the same thing said by about 90% of all adult PlayStation fans on the online forums and message boards. Im sorry but this was a BIG mistake on Sony’s part and now they are going to lost many many many customers to Microsoft. Unless this is either fixed to allow cursing in gener and at people then ps5 sales are not only going to be horrible but the Xbox series X will blow Sony’s sales out of the water! I really hope this idea is abandoned and is not implicated into Sony’s next gen console. Again sorry sony but unless this is fixed to allow cursing 100% and freedom of speech (1st amendment right in the U.S.A.) or completely cancelled then i and many others will unfortunately be forced to purchase an Xbox series X instead

  • I understand the need for security and monitoring behavior. I myself had snapped on other users and was reported, rightfully so, been on both sides of the fence.

    Some of my concerns:

    My concerns lay with children to be honest. I think adults are mature enough to block or ignore and not take things personally.

    My concerns are confidentiality, if you’re talking about something private, or condoning illegal activity as a joke, or making mature jokes that may be considered offensive, it’s creating a climate where people are pressured to not share their thoughts or expressions. I don’t think we’ll be able to have the security we want for kids or snowflake people and still be able to have mature discussions at the same time.

    If Discrimination type jokes, joking about criminal activity etc. Are gateways to being accused as a criminal or a prejudice person, with no context but a 40 second interval, innocent people who say the wrong things are going to get reported.

    This alone is enough for me not to want to continue as a customer, respectfully, I understand. But I make inappropriate jokes all the time and apologize to people I might offend, but I could be reported and end up getting a strike even though my intentions are positive and for an adult group to enjoy freedom of expression.

    And of course there is always the risk of confidentiality when blatantly releasing private conversation clips.

  • If someone doesn’t feel “safe” in a party, there’s a mute button or can simply log out of it. What’s all this crap they want to do. Not falling for this censorship BS, lady Catherine. Please revert this.

  • Since this is customer experience related –

    Where is the camera adapter for PSVR ?

    Why wouldn’t you have designed the system to work with PSVR properly – because not only is a camera adapter required – but the ‘breakout box’ that PSVR requires will not work with HDMI 2.1 features.

    You guys have been too quiet about this.

  • F PLAYSTATION! iam getting a N64 on the first! pretty bad when the update breaks the system to where you have to reformat it.

  • So i know im probably dumb and you probably went over it but how exactly does it work. Am i able to report a voice chat yet or is it only on ps5? How does that work? An in depth response would be fantastic.
    Apologies if you don’t know yet.

  • I think this idea is great, but whats stopping mean players from submitting fake audio recordings?
    Or claiming something is ‘racist even if it’s not?

  • what SUPER chaps me is the fact if I mute someone, they can still hear me. I think that’s bologne. If I mute someone it should mute me to the other person like it previously did.

  • Yup this is the final nail in the coffin for me Sony. Between your stance on censorship, the aggressive pushing of your left wing agenda, and now your big brother tendencies towards voice chat I’m officially switching to PC. It used to be a fun ride….not so much anymore. Wokestation 5, where fun comes to die. Maybe a drop in profits will teach you who your target audience is.

  • PLAYSTATION PLEASE LISTEN!

    Reverse the update making parties easier THEN reimplement the party recording system! As a growing content creator I rely on making community parties to make my art on YouTube please fix this.

  • The least sony can do is add public parties back so people in gammong communities for lets say gta or Modern warfare to jion random parties and play just like before its such a hassle to play with randoms like that i dont care about being recorded i just want that feature back

  • That’s true
    If its not broke don’t mess with it

  • “OK. I understand being able to “report” abuse, but Sony has completely ruined party chat. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that everyone wants the original party system back! I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m being a jerk here, but this new system sucks!” < I couldn’t say I better, so I didn’t.

  • Will PS5 Players Be Able To Talk To Xbox Players?

    • That’s a great question, they should contract with Discord for cross-platform chat groups IMO. The infrastructure is almost already there for it. I really hope they go this route being a PC and a SONY user.

  • Please listen to your subscribers and change it back. It’s been over a month of this. Every party creates a new txt message and all the update has done is create clutter.
    Having a private or public party was a much better form of voice chat.

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