What Can You Use PS4 Voice Commands For?

Unlike the Xbox One, voice commands will be pretty limited on the PlayStation 4 – but that’s hardly surprising considering that the functionality was only announced a couple of months ago. Speaking as part of a press session in New York City earlier this week, the platform holder confirmed that you won’t be able to turn the next generation console on with a voice command, nor will you be able to pause a Netflix video without picking up the DualShock 4. So, what can you do?

According to Engadget, you’ll be able to boot up games with a simple speech direction, turn the console off, and, well, that's it for now. As already alluded, none of the system’s recently announced third-party applications will support the functionality at launch, but this is something that the firm hopes to integrate over the coming months. The device will support five languages at release – English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Japanese – with more to come later on.

You’ll be able to use the admittedly limited voice controls with the PlayStation Camera or the mono headset that comes included in every box. The former will also supposedly incorporate gesture controls similar to the Kinect, but Sony has failed to really demonstrate how those will work just yet. It’s safe to assume that this is all very much a work in progress, and will get fleshed out over the course of the next generation console’s lifespan.