Xbox Cloud Gaming Now Has Mouse and Keyboard Support In Select Games

Tom Warren reports via The Verge: Microsoft is starting to preview mouse and keyboard support for Xbox Cloud Gaming today. Xbox Insiders will be able to start playing with their mouse and keyboard in Edge, Chrome, or the Xbox app on Windows PCs, nearly two years after Microsoft announced it was preparing to add mouse and keyboard support to its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service. Not every game will be supported during the preview, but there's a large selection, including Fortnite, Sea of Thieves, and Halo Infinite. Microsoft warns that some games will display controller UI elements briefly before adapting to mouse and keyboard input after you start interacting with the game.

If you're interested in trying games with mouse and keyboard in the browser version of Xbox Cloud Gaming, then you'll need to be in full-screen mode, according to Microsoft. This is so the game can correctly capture your pointer as input. If you want to exit out of mouse and keyboard mode and use an Xbox controller instead, there's an ALT+F9 shortcut to do so. The full list of supported games include: Fortnite (browser only), ARK Survival Evolved, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Halo Infinite, Atomic Heart, Sniper Elite 5, Deep Rock Galactic, High on Life, Zombie Army 4 Dead War, Gears Tactics, Pentiment, Doom 64, and Age of Empires 2.

Re:

[thegarbz]

But don't think for a second that Microsoft will allow you to stop buying their built-to-fail-soon controllers

You can literally buy countless third party xbox controllers, officially licensed by Microsoft too. Also non-hall effect joysticks are standard on most controllers on the market both first and third party. Thou whineth too much.

Re:

[ffkom]

But don't think for a second that Microsoft will allow you to stop buying their built-to-fail-soon controllers

You can literally buy countless third party xbox controllers, officially licensed by Microsoft too.

Only wired ones, which for obvious convenience reasons few people want to buy. Microsoft has not licensed a single wireless controller that uses hall effect sensor joysticks.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

only wired? really? better tell Turtle beach, SCUF, logitech and the rest that their wireless controllers don't actually work, I am sure they will be shocked.

Re:

[ffkom]

Please provide links to the actual products, I'm genuinely interested. SCUF controllers I found so far do not claim to use hall effect sensor joysticks. Same for Logitech. Logitech and SCUF also both seem to require USB dongles to be plugged into the console, appearing to the console as if they were wired controllers, instead of talking to the XBox'es built-in transceiver.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

https://www.turtlebeach.com/pa... [turtlebeach.com]

Re:

[Can'tNot]

$200?!?

I saw a $90 control pad a while back and I thought that things had gotten out of hand. Things have gotten out of hand.

Re:

[thegarbz]

I saw a $90 control pad a while back and I thought that things had gotten out of hand. Things have gotten out of hand.

You don't need to buy a fancy high end controller with hyper accurate hall effect sensors and built in display so you can read your whatsapp messages. There's nothing out of hand here. Cheaper ones are available. The OP was talking about high end, so it stands to reason that there's a high end price involved.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

he is after high end features, no surprise they are in high priced items.

Re:

[Can'tNot]

It's just hall effect joysticks. They're not that expensive, or they shouldn't be. Those were standard on the Dreamcast, way back when.

Re:

[Can'tNot]

that is considered a premium feature

... This is more "e-sports" bullshit, isn't it? Instead of standardizing a cheap and useful feature, they've elevated it to the status of a performance advantage and jacked up the price so they can sell it to people who want to emulate "e-athletes."

Re:

[thegarbz]

SCUF controllers I found so far do not claim to use hall effect sensor joysticks

So what you're saying is "no-hall-effect-here joysticks" are industry standard not just for Microsoft and other console manufacturers but also for third party manufacturers, showing your demands are completely out of touch with the entire industry. Got it.

Re:

[ffkom]

"No-hall-effect-here joysticks" are an "industry standard" only in the sense that multiple large corporations are currently using them on purpose to implement planned obsolescence. Hall effect sensors cost few cents in normal quantities, and even if you as a consumer need to buy single pieces along with joystick mechanics and an IC that emulates variable resistors, those are still sold for about one dollar [aliexpress.us].

If you want to educate yourself on the farce that this planned obsolescence is, here is some compreh [youtu.be]

Re:

[christoban]

Cynicism. How original.

Re: Such generous grace!

[sixminuteabs]

Yeah replacement controllers are driving the stock performance. In fact I think I read Nadella say controllers will be Microsoftâ(TM)s biggest business by 2026 followed by Azure and Microsoft 365.

Re:

[ffkom]

Their controller business is by no means insignificant. Microsoft is (for obvious reasons) pretty quiet on their sales figures, but 8 years ago they sold a million of only their higher-price "Elite" model units within one year [gamedeveloper.com]. Of course even that high price model utilizes flimsy variable resistors to break soon.

Re: Such generous grace!

[sixminuteabs]

Letâ(TM)s pretend they profit $30 per controller. Thatâ(TM)s 30 million. They earned 72 billion in 2023. .04%. Please stop.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

But don't think for a second that Microsoft will allow you to stop buying their built-to-fail-soon controllers, with their flimsy no-hall-effect-here joysticks

I'm still using an Xbox 360 wireless controller on my PC, and it seems to still work flawlessly. And as well, I've replaced joysticks on some other controllers before, and it wasn't that much work. Are the new controllers that much more crap?

Re:

[Computershack]

But don't think for a second that Microsoft will allow you to stop buying their built-to-fail-soon controllers, with their flimsy no-hall-effect-here joysticks they are just too much of a profit center for Microsoft.

So just the same as those in the Playstation controllers and on the Nintendo Switch?

Re:

[Hodr]

What the hell? I literally just threw away my Xbox 360 controllers that I have been using with my computer for the last decade. They still worked, but I just had too many with a half dozen Xbox one controllers and 5 Xbox series x controllers and no need to horde them anymore.

I have never had a drift issue or button issue or really any issue with any Xbox controller going back to the monstrous ones on the original Xbox.

I have had slightly less good luck with playstation controllers, and downright awful luck

My SuperNintendo also had a mouse and keyboard

[thesjaakspoiler]

Nice to hear that Microsoft is catching up!

Re:

[Computershack]

Your Super Nintendo had mouse and keyboard support for cloud streaming games? I don't think it even had internet connectivity, especially as the WWW hadn't even been released to the public by the time the Super Nintendo launched. The Xbox console itself has had mouse and keyboard support for quite a few years.

Xbox and PlayStation

[nehumanuscrede]

If both companies mandated keyboard / mouse support for all games on their platform, they would likely get a significant chunk of PC gamers to make the switch. Bigger user base = more money for them so why it hasn't been considered yet is puzzling to me.

Amazing

[OrangeTide]

I remember playing Age of Empires and Doom with a mouse and keyboard. I think it's just great that a game streaming service is catching up to 30 year old PCs. Sure, we've had mouse and keyboard support for Javascript-based PC emulators [pcjs.org] for a few years now, but it's nice that Microsoft, who sells their own brand of mice, recognizes that this is a useful feature.