PS5 will let you say ‘Hey PlayStation!’ to control it with your voice, Sony says

The PlayStation 5 will soon be able to listen out for when its owners talk to it, Sony has announced.

An upcoming software update will give players the ability to say “Hey PlayStation!” and then give the console a range of voice commands.

They will include opening games or apps, changing settings or skipping songs, for instance.

Users will have the option to turn it off entirely in the settings, if they wish, and Sony stressed that it will not keep any recordings that are made using children’s accounts.

The feature is part of a new beta software update that will be rolling out to participants in its testing programme this week. The full release will come “later this year”, Sony said.

The new update also brings a range of other changes, including renaming voice chats to “parties” and giving users the option of making them open – so that friends can join – or closed. Players can now also pin games or apps to the home screen, alongside other updates.

Sony notes that all the changes are part of a beta, and so will be subject to the same issues as any kind of test. That appears particularly true of the voice command feature, which is only being tested in the UK and US and for which Sony asks users to send detailed feedback on how the experiment is going.

Players can sign up to be a part of the PlayStation 5 software betas on Sony’s website. The company will pick people to take part – and stresses that while they will get access to early features, they should also be aware that the software is in an early form and could be incomplete or come with issues.