In a recent development, Microsoft has announced that Xbox One will be getting keyboard and mouse support next one. For this, they are even planning to partner up with Razer to dish out some really cool Xbox keyboards and mice.
Announced on their official blog, Jason Ronald who is the Director of Program Management for Xbox Platform announced that in a bid to give players the best gaming experience, they are adding the much asked keyboard and mouse support next month in a major update. Initially this feature will only be available to Xbox Insiders.
This will be a slow update and it will be gradually given to all Xbox Insiders in coming weeks once the feature is live. Jason also stated that this is not a forced feature and each game developer will have complete control over it and it all boils down to them if they want to add this feature or not.
Even with all previous games, the developers can implement this support via updates or patches that too if they want too. Microsoft does not want to force developers to use this feature. The reason for this freedom is clear that Microsoft does want to push developers who know the limitations of their games.
If a developer thinks that mouse and keyboard input will be bad for their game, they can easily skip this support. By default, mouse and keyboard setting will not be enabled for any game and players can use controllers without any hassle because of this additional support. Nothing will change for them if they want to stick to using controllers.
Currently Warframe is the only confirmed title that will use this feature when the update is live to the Xbox Insiders. More titles will be conformed as well but for the time being, since the feature will be in a test phase, not many developers will be eager to jump on the bandwagon.
Coming to hardware compatibility, Xbox One will support a wide range of wireless or wired keyboards and mice. A special partnership is also taking place between Xbox and Razer. Razer will create new keyboards and mice specifically for use with Xbox giving the best keyboard and mouse experience to players. Jason said that more information on this partnership will be revealed soon.
Mouse and keyboard support has been present on PS4 for a long time and many titles come with this support already so we think that putting the same support on Xbox One titles will not be much of a trouble for the developers as well. Xbox has finally listened to fans as well and hence this feature is finally coming to Xbox One as well.
Initially it will be available to Xbox Insiders and then once all bugs have been ironed out, it will be rolled out to general public as well. We will keep you updated on any further news on this in the coming days so keep checking back.
Let us know in the comments section below about what you think of the new keyboard and mouse support coming to Xbox One.