Microsoft has announced that Google Assistant now works with its Xbox One. Similar to the existing Amazon Alexa integration, Microsoft is allowing you to control your Xbox with Google Assistant voice commands, whether that be for launching games and apps, turning the console on and off, or pausing videos.
Available to all English customers during the beta period, Google and Xbox plans to expand language support before launching more broadly. Here’s how the integration works.
How to set up Google Assistant on Xbox One
You need to use the Google Home app for iOS and Android, or a Google Assistant-enabled device like Google Home, to voice-control an Xbox One.
Google Assistant doesn’t locally run on the Xbox One, so it can only receive commands from other apps/devices running Google Assistant. Microsoft is rolling out Google Assistant functionality as a public beta, initially, so you must join a Google Group to get access.
It can then be activated through the Google Home app for iOS or Android. Microsoft said Xbox owners will be able to give their console a name within the app, too, allowing users to issue Xbox voice commands on the voice control device like “Hey Google, turn on Xbox”.
Once you’re all set up, try using the following google voice assistant commands:
- Hey Google, play Gears 5 on Xbox.
- Hey Google, turn on Xbox.
- Hey Google, turn off Xbox.
- Hey Google, launch YouTube on Xbox.
- Hey Google, pause on Xbox.
- Hey Google, resume on Xbox.
- Hey Google, volume up on Xbox.
- Hey Google, take a screenshot on Xbox.
Who are you speaking to?
Since we’re speaking so much about the Google voice assistance and what it can do, we thought we would also include who the voice of it is. Jason Toff of the Google Voice Team recently confirmed that Google Voice, a telephony service that provides call forwarding and voicemail services, uses the voice of Kiki Baessell who is also a Google employee.
