Surely is not Yoti through it terribly poor age verification for XBOX costing or set to cost Microsoft money?

Question

How did Yoti win the contract to become Microsoft's "trusted partner" for age verification? I can not get through its age verification and I'm 51. There are so many negative reviews online about the functionality of Yoti for both age and ID verification. How did Microsoft feel it was appropriate to award this contract to Yoti when Yoti's failure(s) literally prevents revenue streams for Microsoft via purchases through the XBOX games store. Yoti's basic functionality is not functional, its customer support is very slow (via 1 email per 24h period max) and continually implies blame to the user(s) rather than fixing access and functionality problems. Did Microsoft not do a tender process for the awarding of this contract or not do any due diligence to verify claims in the tender application? Does Microsoft not have a contract manager for this contract given that this age verification will literally become a gate keeper for its customers to allow them to spend money with Microsoft? How has Microsoft made such a poor choice that directly negatively affects its revenue.

Answer 1

Hi Dominic

It is understandable to be frustrated when age verification fails, especially if you are clearly over the required age. However, nobody in this community forum has visibility into Microsoft's procurement process, contract decisions, or vendor selection criteria, so we cannot determine whether Yoti was chosen through a tender process or what due diligence was performed. Microsoft states that Yoti is one of its trusted age-verification partners and that age verification is required in certain regions to comply with legal requirements. If the verification process is not working, the best option is to report the issue directly to Xbox Support so it can be investigated and recorded as customer feedback.