Xbox Live Gamerpics Customization Returns Following Temporary Restrictions

KEY POINTS

Since March, Microsoft has disabled user ability to customize gamerpics
With the pandemic forcing people to stay home, record numbers joined Xbox Live, which also meant difficulty manually moderating individual gamerpics
As more governments worldwide ease up on restrictions, Microsoft allowed personalized gamerpics to return across their other cloud services

Following a period of record engagement numbers in its gaming services due to the global pandemic, Microsoft has eased restrictions on custom gamerpics, club pics, and club backgrounds by its users.

In light of forced lockdown situations worldwide resulting in over 90 million active Xbox Live users last quarter, the ability for users to customize their images was removed across the Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs, Xbox mobile apps, and other Xbox Live devices.

Microsoft cited “streamlining moderation” for the change, with the desire to manually review every user gamerpic to make sure community guidelines are being followed.

From March until the restriction was lifted, Windows Central reported that users attempting to upload their own images would receive the error message, “Sorry, we can’t upload your picture right now. Try again in a little while.”

The 42 percent increase in the Xbox Live population caught Microsoft by surprise, with this recent development suggesting reduced load or a somewhat return to normal levels of Xbox services in many regions.

Government restrictions worldwide have been easing up and users who want to change their profile pictures can do so once again through supported devices. This is followed by manual reviews from the moderation team of Xbox Live.

The global pandemic undoubtedly forced many users to digitally connect through online gaming and this is reflected in Xbox Game Pass subscribers surpassing 10 million. Now offering over 300 games across the Netflix-style service for Xbox One and PC, Microsoft has reportedly also seen 270 million new friend relationships created on Xbox Live during the lockdown, noted Windows Central.

Customizable gamerpics, images, and avatars have long been a service across different gaming platforms, allowing users a level of control over how they want to present themselves to the rest of the world. There are, of course, dangerous and undesirable ways to show off those personalized images, hence the need for manual review to ensure community guideline compliance across the board.

Microsoft’s other cloud services, such as Windows Virtual Desktop, Teams, Mixer, in addition to Xbox Game Pass, saw higher demand in March as COVID-19 forced governments to restrict civilian movements to the confines of their own homes.