Amazon has announced a new capability for the Xbox Alexa skill, making it possible to directly download games from Xbox Game Pass to their console using the voice assistant. The feature can be used on any Alexa-enabled device, like the Echo Buds, Echo Auto, and others.
While it's part of the Xbox skill for Alexa, users don't have to specifically summon the skill for this to work, they can just say "Alexa, download [game] from Xbox Game Pass". Interestingly, Amazon also notes that Microsoft is "the first gaming partner" to get this kind of direct download feature, which seems to suggest other integrations may be planned in the future.
In addition to downloading games, this integration with Game Pass also means users can ask what's popular, new, or leaving Game Pass, without even having to link their Xbox accounts. Of course, downloading a game does require account linking.
The announcement follows up on the recent launch of Alexa for Xbox, which brought the full suite of Alexa features to the console itself, though it still requires a dedicated Alexa device to work. This new Alexa capability is now available in the United States, but support for more regions is planned for the future. If you're wondering, only support for Xbox consoles is mentioned, so if you have Game Pass for PC, you won't be able to use this skill to download games there.
