For the win! Microsoft seems to be gearing up to test keyboard and mouse support for its new yet wildly popular Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This is something that has been long teased for the service.
Only now are we seeing glimpses of it testing.
The latest Xbox app update includes references to keyboard and mouse inputs. The recent update has changed the Xbox Cloud Gaming interface a little bit to make room for this most demanded feature that seems to be imminent.
We have new iconography for support of these peripherals and a filter for the search tool to allow you to find games that support mouse and keyboard.
This is how it looks:
The change can be witnessed in the newest version of the Xbox app, both for Windows 11 and the older Windows 10. A mouse icon resides next to the controller icon up top to check for required peripherals for cloud gaming.
You also get a new search area that lets you filter cloud games by input. One of the filters is indeed mouse and keyboard, which sits next to the touch controls for Windows-based tablets. And then you have the good old controller support in its tried and tested glory.
As of this writing, the system is rather buggy.
But this is to be expected in a preview build containing this early implementation. Thumbnails refuse to load, and cloud gaming is unable to boot with this version of the app. But you do get a glimpse at what the future holds.
It’s worth mentioning that since Xbox Cloud Gaming uses Xbox console hardware to beam titles to your device of choice, it stands to reason that only games that support keyboard and mouse on the consoles will receive the same level of support on the cloud game streaming service.
Activating the filter only lists Psychonauts 2 and Sea of Thieves, two games that offer support for these peripherals. One can assume that these are the two titles that are currently being tested for this.
No telling when this feature will actually debut for gamers, but with testing underway, it should not be too long before keyboard and mouse support is ready for public consumption.
Hopefully, an official announcement from Microsoft is not too far off either.
