Amazon’s Alexa is one of the most widely-recognised assistants in the world. Thanks to strong brand reinforcement by Amazon, “Alexa” is arguably becoming synonymous with voice assistants in much the same way as both “Nintendo” and “PlayStation” have for video games in the past. As such, many homes now use Alexa as their smart hub base, adding accessories like smart lighting, smart temperature control, and smart appliances to their setup.
If you’re looking to integrate your gaming equipment into your Alexa smart home, then you’ve probably asked yourself whether you can connect Alexa to PS5 systems. We’ve got good news and bad news for you on this front. The bad news might come as a blow if you’re looking to turn your PS5 on and off as part of your smart home setup, but the good news might cushion that blow somewhat. Here’s our rundown of whether it’s possible to hook up your PS5 with Alexa in 2023.
The PS5 isn’t directly compatible with Alexa
First, let’s start with the bad news. Unlike the Xbox ecosystem, the PlayStation 5 doesn’t have direct integration with Alexa, which means that you can’t directly tell an Alexa system to turn on your PS5. The PS4 suffered from the same issue, so if you’re a PlayStation devotee, then you can’t use Alexa to directly switch your system on, unfortunately. This means that if you’re going to use your PS5 with Alexa, then you’re going to need to get creative.
How to set up Alexa with your PS5
Just because Alexa and the PS5 aren’t directly compatible, that doesn’t mean you can’t use your system with Alexa at all. It’s going to take some working around, but it is technically possible to issue some commands to your PS5 with Alexa, albeit fairly limited ones.
In short, it’s possible to tell your Alexa system to power on your PS5 by using the PS5’s HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) system. This is a method by which you can switch the PS5 on and off when the TV is turned on or off, thereby switching straight to your console rather than having to go through the process of manually turning on the PS5.
We’re sure you can already see where we’re going with this, but one way you can integrate your PS5 with Alexa is to enable HDMI-CEC in your PS5, then create a routine for Alexa whereby you ask the system to turn on your TV. When you do this, the PS5 will also switch on, and so you’ve technically just used Alexa to turn on your PS5. Obviously, the same process will work when you want to power down the TV and the PS5.
Unfortunately, you’re pretty much limited to CEC functionality when it comes to Alexa PS5 integration, which in turn means that you can only use Alexa to turn the system on or off. You can’t, for example, tell Alexa to play a certain game on your PS5, or watch a movie, or switch to a particular app. Still, being able to switch the system on and off isn’t too bad, and at least it’s some functionality, right?
Does the Logitech Harmony Hub work with PS5?
One of the potential Alexa workarounds for PS4 was to use the Logitech Harmony Hub, which could be set up to work with PS4 via a convoluted system of different skills and methods. Unfortunately, it looks like this method won’t work for the PS5. Several users are reporting that the PS5 simply won’t work with the Harmony Hub; they’ve been unable to set up skills or commands that allow the Hub to activate the PS5.
Of course, if you’ve got any kind of smart home setup, then asking it to activate your TV will also trigger the PS5 via the CEC method outlined above. Still, it looks like Sony’s insistence on not letting any third-party systems or software activate PlayStation devices is very much intact in the PS5 generation. It’s a shame, but it looks like if you want to play your PS5 for now, you’re going to have to activate it manually using your controller or using the CEC method. Still, that’s not too arduous, eh?
Will the PS5 get official Alexa support in the future?
It’s pretty unlikely that the PS5 will ever officially support Alexa, unfortunately. Given that Sony seems pretty reticent about allowing any third-party devices, including smart home systems, to activate or control PlayStation consoles, it’s not looking good for Alexa integration. Of course, there’s every chance Sony will eventually relent and add Alexa support for PS5, but we don’t think it’s likely. You’re going to have to content yourself with being able to switch the system on and off using your TV and Alexa skills, so if you want to play games or watch movies, you’ll need to use the good old-fashioned DualSense.
Will other smart home systems work with PS5?
Since Alexa doesn’t work with PS5 (and this problem is largely on Sony’s side), other smart home systems will likely experience a similar roadblock. Whether you’re using Google Home, Alexa, or Samsung’s SmartThings hub, you’re going to struggle to integrate your PS5 with those systems officially. All of them should support the CEC method we outlined above, though, so you should at least be able to control the power cycling of your system by turning your TV on and off.
