Ubisoft teams up with Newcastle’s police force to tackle “extreme” toxicity in gaming

Ubisoft has shared that it will be working with Northumbria Police to address “extreme cases” of toxicity in gaming.

As reported by the BBC, the Newcastle-based Ubisoft Customer Relationship Centre will work with local police to help prevent cases of online toxicity that have the potential to escalate into real-world danger.

As part of the agreement, specialist officers will pass their knowledge of online behaviour on to the centre’s workers, who monitor Ubisoft games for toxicity and provide customer support.

In return, Ubisoft’s customer relationship team will have the ability to fast-track worrying cases straight to the police, who are left to decide whether it is actionable.

Speaking to BBC News, Ubisoft’s Andrew Holliday says that the agreement has already been put into practice.

“Things were said and behaviours displayed that hit our threshold for intervention,” shared Holliday. “There was a threat to life or serious harm. The agreement with Northumbria Police meant that after we flagged it, even though it wasn’t a UK citizen – they were able to get Norwegian authorities involved.”

“It was a lot quicker, more efficient and safer than trying to do it as a private citizen,” added Holliday.

Holliday added that toxicity is an “internet problem” that’s not limited to gaming, and Ubisoft’s current goal is to triage instances of abuse and decide whether it can be dealt with in-house or needs to be passed to police.

Speaking for Northumbria Police, Detective Chief Superintendent Deborah Alderson says that policing should protect “all of our communities, not just the ones we see in person, but our online communities as well.”

“Policing changes continually, demands evolve and we have different challenges all the time – our job is to evolve with it,” Alderson explained.

Earlier this year, the 2023 State Of The Game Industry survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of people surveyed said that player harassment of developers is a “serious” issue.

And last November, Riot Games teamed up with Ubisoft for their ‘Zero Harm in Comms’ project, which saw the game developers investigate “artificial intelligence-based solutions” to toxicity in multiplayer games.

In other gaming news, Nintendo has brought a number of Game Boy titles to the Nintendo Switch.