Xbox Adds New Speech-To-Text Feature, But Only For One Game

A new "pilot feature" is now available on Xbox One and Windows 10, but only for one game. Halo Wars 2 on both platforms has added a feature called Game Chat Transcription. As its name suggests, this is a speech-to-text service that also supports text-to-speech. Microsoft says in a blog post that it is a "way to communicate that creates a more accessible and inclusive gaming experience for everyone."

Using the feature, you can covert voice communications in the game chat into text, with this text popping up on screen in real time. You can also have your written out text spoken aloud to other players in a match.

Game Chat Transcription is only available in Halo Wars 2 right now, though Microsoft says it wants to bring it to more games down the road.

If you've played a game on Xbox Live with voice chat enabled, you're well aware of how gross and unsavory some people can be. We can only imagine what some of those comments may sound like coming through Microsoft's new text-to-speech feature. Microsoft notes that there are multiple voice options.

Here are instructions for how to turn on the Game Chat Transcription feature, as written by Microsoft:

1. Go to Settings > All settings > Ease of Access > Game Chat Transcription.
2. To transcribe other players’ voices into text, select Speech-to-text.
3. To have your chat text read aloud to other players, select Text-to-speech.
4. To choose the voice that other players will hear when your chat text is read aloud, select one of the available voices in the Text-to-speech voice menu.

For more on Halo Wars 2, which is available as an Xbox Play Anywhere title for Xbox One and PC, read GameSpot's review here.