Xbox One to get keyboard, mouse support

July 22, 2015 | 12:01

Tags: #console-gaming #dreamcast #fps #phil-spencer #rts #xbox-one

Companies: #microsoft #sega

Microsoft's Phil Spencer has hinted that the Xbox One console is to gain support for keyboard and mouse input, a move which would make streaming from Windows 10 to the device a possibility.

The third in Microsoft's Xbox generation, the Xbox One returns to its roots with a fairly traditional PC-like architecture. While it may be powered by an x86 AMD APU, though, the device is clearly targeted as a console and not a PC - which extends to its lack of support for input devices other than joypads, joysticks and wheels while in-game. While it recently gained the ability to stream games to any Windows 10 device, the console still lacks support for the traditional PC control system of keyboard and mouse - but that, Xbox head Phil Spencer has claimed, is due to change.

In a discussion on Twitter regarding the possibility of streaming from a Windows 10 machine to the Xbox One, rather than the other way around, Spencer explained 'Yep, keyboard and mouse support for Xbox would need to be there for this to work, [but] those aren't far away.'

If the Xbox One gained the ability to play games with a keyboard and mouse, one of the biggest differences between the console platform and a gaming PC would disappear: the lack of precision and performance for certain games, especially first-person shooters and real-time strategy titles, afforded by a joypad. It wouldn't be without precedence: Sega released a keyboard and mouse pack for its ill-fated Dreamcast console, and while they were built with web-browsing and communications in mind they also worked with first-person shooters - including Quake III Arena, which allowed cross-platform play between PCs and the Dreamcast.

Sadly, Spencer stopped short of announcing a release date for keyboard and mouse support - and as for the idea of streaming Windows 10 content to the Xbox One, 'I like the idea of Win10->Xbox One streaming,' he explained, 'but don't have a plan yet.'
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