Microsoft is adding game chat transcription to Xbox One and Windows 10

Microsoft is starting to roll out a new game chat transcription feature that will convert your game voice communications into text. The new pilot feature will be available on Xbox One and Windows 10 shortly, and the first game to support it will be Halo Wars 2. It’s designed to convert in-game voice communications into text, or typed text into audio.

While it’s primarily an accessibility feature, the ability to transcribe other players voices into text could be useful for gamers who don’t want to listen to audio or want to avoid blocking or muting particular players. It’s also a great way to capture all of your swearing, or claims of wall hacks during multiplayer games. It appears the feature will need to be supported in games directly, so this won't be available as part of the Xbox One’s party chat option.

To enable the new feature on an Xbox One you’ll need to head to the Ease of Access settings and game chat transcription section. Speech-to-text will need to be enabled to transcribe other players’ voices into text, or text-to-speech to have your chat read aloud to other players. You can even pick which voice is used to read your text out loud.