United Kingdom, April 21 -- Sony Interactive Entertainment has begun rolling out age verification for PlayStation users in the UK and Ireland, as part of efforts to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act.

The new system is currently optional but will become mandatory from June. Players who fail to verify their age risk losing access to a range of social and online features across the platform.

According to Sony, unverified users may be restricted from using voice and text chat, messaging, and third-party communication tools such as Discord. Broadcasting features - including streaming gameplay to platforms like YouTube and Twitch - could also be disabled.

In addition, certain in-game features tied to user-generated content, such as chat...