Xbox confirms it’s banning Baldur’s Gate 3 players who auto-upload sex clips

Microsoft has confirmed it’s banning Baldur’s Gate 3 players who upload clips showing explicit scenes.

Last week, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian claimed it was working with Microsoft to resolve the issue, which had seen some players on Xbox being banned from accessing their accounts after they uploaded footage showing the game’s sex scenes.

Larian’s director of publishing, Michael Douse, wrote on X that the situation was “annoying and uncool”.

Now, Xbox’s support account has addressed the situation, and confirmed that the Baldur’s Gate bans were not made in error.

Even those whose consoles automatically uploaded explicit footage could be banned, it confirmed, though in those cases it could reverse the action.

“To provide clarity on Baldur’s Gate 3 mature content enforcement actions, Xbox account suspensions are not automatic. Each clip is reviewed by a moderator and, if found in violation of our safety and content policies, actioned accordingly,” it wrote.

“Our team evaluates appeals and can reverse suspensions if action was taken in error. If this was a first offense, for example, we will remove the suspension and let players know why it happened and how to avoid future issues (e.g. how to turn off auto-upload when sensitive content is being captured).”

The doubling down on the policy appears to have gone down poorly with some players.

“Just checking. This is from a game you allow to be bought and played on your console, correct?” wrote one X user.

“Nobody should be getting suspended,” added another. “Instead, users who block M-rated games in their family settings should not see any clips from any M-rated games. Shouldn’t be any more complicated than that.”

Baldur’s Gate 3, which was released for PC in August and for PS5 and Mac the following month, is one of the current generation’s most critically acclaimed titles and has been a big commercial hit too.

The game arrived on Xbox in December, launching minutes before the game won Game of the Year at The Game Awards.