Sony has announced via the official PlayStation Twitter account that it’s looking into feedback on the recent changes made to the PlayStation 4’s Party system.
Hey folks – just wanted to let you know that we’re looking into your feedback on the recent changes to Parties on PS4.
Thanks for speaking up – we’ll keep you posted
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 17, 2020
This is a bit of a vague statement in that it doesn’t specify what issue(s) Sony is looking to address. The Party changes have been widely criticized for a number of reasons, but it’s the voice recording functionality that attracted most of the backlash.
For the uninitiated, PS5 owners will be allowed to record players (including PS4 users) in a Party chat and submit the voice recording to Sony’s moderation team for review. The idea behind it is to allow players to accurately report abuse and harassment.
“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,” Sony explained in a recent blog post. “We didn’t clearly communicate this feature or explain why we were introducing it, and we apologize for that.”
However, Sony’s explanation did little to placate players who expressed concerns about the feature potentially invading their privacy.
Again, it’s unclear if it’s concerns about this specific feature that Sony is planning to address, but we’ll keep our readers post as and when we have more information. In the meantime, let us know what you think would be a better alternative to report abuse and harassment.
