Sony will require age verification for PlayStation communication features in the UK and Ireland by June 2026

Sony has started rolling out age verification for PlayStation users in the UK and Ireland to comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act. It’s optional for now, but according to the support page, it becomes mandatory in June 2026 if you want to keep using a range of social and sharing features.

If you don’t verify your age, Sony says you could lose access to voice and text chat, messaging, Discord integration, broadcasting and sharing tools, streaming to YouTube or Twitch, and some in-game user-generated content features. That can also extend to individual games with their own chat, messaging, or content-sharing systems.

Sony says the exact restrictions may vary from game to game, since each title handles communication and UGC differently. It also notes that more in-game features could be limited over time as developers update how those systems work.

The verification process is handled by Yoti, the same provider Microsoft uses for Xbox. Players can confirm their age with a government-issued ID, a facial age estimate scan, or a mobile provider check.

This is part of a wider shift tied to the UK’s Online Safety Act, which has pushed platform holders to add age checks for online services. For PlayStation users in the UK and Ireland, the immediate change is simple: verification is live now, and by June 2026 it won’t really be optional if you use the platform’s communication tools.