It looks like keyboard and mouse support could be coming to the Xbox One as soon as this fall.
While it has been possible to get a keyboard and mouse up and running on Microsoft’s console through the use of various specially designed third-party accessories, few games include official support for the form of control input.
Especially in terms of the first-person shooter genre, controllers are often considered to be a disadvantage when compared to the twitch-like capability of a mouse and keyboard.
This could lead to issues with controller players facing off against mouse and keyboard gamers with Microsoft’s console. To combat this, Microsoft is reportedly giving developers the ability to support input detection tools, allowing players to match based on their control type.
Of course developers would need to implement this feature in their games, as well as add support for mouse and keyboard input. It’s unclear if older releases would be patched to support the input method, especially considering how few users would actually opt to use a mouse and keyboard rather than a controller when it comes to console gaming. Still, having the option when it comes to PUBG or Fortnite, would be useful, though a specific mouse and keyboard playlist would be necessary to keep things fair.
According to Windows Central, Microsoft met with developer’s earlier this year regarding its reported partnership with Razer for Xbox One mouse and keyboard functionality. Windows Central released a variety of slides pulled from this presentation.
Keyboard and mouse support is rumoured to make its way to the console this coming fall.
Microsoft has been progressively blurring the lines between Xbox and PC with its ‘Xbox Play Anywhere’ initiative, allowing all first-party games purchased for the console to also play on
PC. Bringing mouse and keyboard support to the console seems like the next natural step for the gaming giant.
Of course since nothing has been confirmed yet, it’s possible Microsoft could have pulled the entire project at some point.
Source: Windows Central
