PlaySafe ID CEO: ‘Gamers don’t want their behaviour tracked or tied to passports’

Video games bring in significantly more revenue than the movie industry, with multiplayer online games especially lucrative. The likes of Fortnite, Genshin Impact and Grand Theft Auto Online basically print money as players spend real money on in-game credits to buy in-game items.

Fortnite for example is estimated to have generated over $26 billion in lifetime revenue since it launched in July 2017. Games excel where movies cannot — in interactivity, deep engagement and sociability. And identity plays a role.

Gamers can change their appearance, gender, name, behavior and become someone else. It’s a part of playing. But this does have a darker side. Bad behavior, predators and inappropriate content, which can be user generated, can be found in online games. Bots and AI can make it difficult to distinguish real players from fake ones, posing a challenge to developers.

“In the West, online anonymity is highly valued; gamers don’t want their behaviour tracked or tied to personal data like passports or photo IDs,” says Andrew Wailes, CEO of PlaySafe ID.

Speaking to Biometric Update, the British founder notes that there is often “deep distrust” between players and game companies over privacy but at the same time players want accountability. “Cheaters and bad actors are ruining games, and people are fed up,” Wailes says.

In the UK, the Online Safety Act is coming into force to ensure children are protected from encountering harmful content as part of the Protection of Children Codes. This means compliance with the UK Online Safety Act is a priority for online service providers, including video game platforms and publishers.

Entrust is partnering with PlaySafe ID to provide secure onboarding and KYC. Entrust Identity Verification will power PlaySafe ID’s verified, game-agnostic digital ID. This will confirm human identity to bolster accountability, ensure compliance and protect against myriad risks that can plague online gaming. This includes cheating, bots, hacking and inappropriate behavior.

“This kind of solution hasn’t existed until now because the problem wasn’t big enough,” argues Wailes, after being asked why it’s taken time for identity in games to become more formalized. “But today, cheating is rampant, frustration is high, and gamers are ready for something better.”

Wailes says the partnership with Entrust ensures that the user verification process aligns with the “values of frictionless user experience and privacy” and is a scalable solution. Samuel Steg, Head of Compliance for Identity Verification at Entrust commented: “We’re proud to join PlaySafe ID in their mission to make online gaming a safer place.”

“Fraudulent activity online continues to grow both in scope and sophistication, and gaming environments are no exception,” he continued. “Our identity verification technology provides robust, high-assurance Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, offering gamers a seamless and secure onboarding experience.”

It works like this: Users will take a photo of their government-issued ID and short video selfie to create a PlaySafe ID account. Entrust Identity Verification checks that the ID is genuine to prevent fraud before matching it to the user’s face in the selfie video. This mitigates attempted identity fraud such as stolen ID or deepfakes.

Once verification is complete, PlaySafe ID issues a unique, randomized and anonymized ID, granting the user access to PlaySafe-protected gaming with other verified players. The verification data is kept apart from the PlaySafe ID as part of the company’s privacy-first philosophy, ensuring gamers remain anonymous.

“In regards to how gamers like to play,” Wailes says, who is an avid gamer himself, “they want to be hidden behind an avatar. They don’t want to be their real selves when playing.”

“We’ve built PlaySafe ID to 100 percent preserve the anonymity players love, while finally making real accountability possible to keep bad actors out.”

The start-up says it is in talks to integrate with several “major” gaming platforms with the first partnerships expected to launch later this year.

Article Topics

age verification  |  digital ID  |  Entrust  |  gaming  |  identity verification  |  onboarding  |  Online Safety Act  |  PlaySafe ID  |  selfie biometrics