Microsoft’s effort to improve its community and player spaces continues with the implementation of its revised strike enforcement system. Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox Player Services, delves into the revised program and the decision that lead to its implementation in a recent blog post.

“We are constantly improving our safety measures and bringing more systems and tools in place that empower players to respectfully interact with one another – because everyone deserves a place to comfortably be themselves online, free from harassment and bullying.” wrote McCarthy.

“One of the most common questions we get from players through feedback, posts, and appeals is how repeated enforcements impact their gameplay, how they escalate, what they escalate to, and how they know when their account is back in good standing. To help address this, we are introducing a new enforcement strike system,” He continued.

This new strike system will now allow Xbox users to easily see their enforcement history and how it impacts their record. According to McCarthy, the system will attach “…strikes to every enforcement, ranging in severity based on inappropriate activity.”

McCarthy compares the strikes to a demerit used in driver’s license systems. For Xbox users, every account will have a total of eight strikes. Any strike received will remain on a player’s record for six months. If a player were to obtain all eight strikes, they will be suspended for a year from every Xbox social feature including messaging, parties, party chat, and multiplayer.

Suspended players will still be able to access single-player activities and their purchased content. That said, for serious violations all functionality of the account can be suspended, including access to purchases.

Any enforcement made will only be implemented after revision by the Xbox Safety Team. Players will be able to appeal certain enforcements and if applicable, the enforcement and the strike will be removed.

Xbox’s new enforcement system goes live starting today August 15, 2023. Future data on the strike system will be available in Xbox’s bi-annual Transparency Report. Players can head over to Xbox Support for more information.