What happened
Security and safety are -- or should -- always be top-of-mind when playing online video games. Companies that can provide some measure of this are not only helping the gaming community, but they're also jumping on a potentially lucrative business opportunity.
That was the case with game development platform company Unity Software (U 3.47%) on Thursday. Following the announcement that it is rolling out an "advanced toxicity detection solution," Unity's share price rose to end the day more than 7% higher.
So what
That solution is called Safe Voice which, according to Unity's press release on the new product, gives video game studios the enhanced ability to detect and act on bad actors quickly and effectively.
Safe Voice analyzes a set of voice characteristics from players to glean its insights. The software is game engine-agnostic, according to its maker.
Unity quoted its senior vice president and general manager of gaming services, Jeff Collins, as saying that "Safe Voice is exemplary of how we're tackling this challenge with cutting-edge technology that intuitively makes what was once a laborious and resource intensive process more efficient, effective and scalable."
"We are excited to empower studios with a tool that simplifies combatting toxicity and helps pave the way for building safer and more inclusive gaming environments," he added.
Now what
Take-up will likely come thick and fast, as one major worry of parents is the toxicity their kids might be exposed to when innocently playing games on their devices. Unity cited the example of one client, Hi-Rez Studios (developer of a title called Rogue Company), which has already adopted Safe Voice to protect against such threats.
