It’s no secret that Microsoft has been interested in Keyboard and Mouse support for the Xbox One systems for a while, and that it was just a matter of time before it was implemented. At X018, the Xbox fan event taking place in Mexico City, Microsoft announced that mouse and keyboard support will arrive on Xbox One on November 14, and Xbox Insiders will be able to use it on select games at launch, with more titles adding support later. Among these games is Epic Games’ Fortnite and Digital Extremes’ Warframe.
In November, Bomber Crew, Deep Rock Galactic, Strange Brigade, Vermintide 2, War Thunder, and X-Morph Defense will also be updated to offer keyboard and mouse support. Beyond that, Microsoft has named Children of Morta, DayZ, Minion Master, Moonlighter, Vigor, Warface, and Wargroove as games “adding support in the future.”
According to Microsoft, when the feature becomes available next week, developers will have the tools required to create “tailored mouse and keyboard experiences for they game as they see fit to ensure a fair and fun experience for fans.
The company also took the opportunity to reveal a selection of “Designed for Xbox” mice and keyboard peripherals. Razer has been confirmed to be the exclusive partner for these products and is expected to introduces their line of Designed for Xbox peripherals at CES in January, 2019.
Microsoft says these are going to be “created for living room or desktop scenarios, come equipped with a dedicated Xbox key, and support the new Xbox Dynamic Lighting feature enabling immersive in-game lighting effects.”
Of course, the introduction of mouse and keyboard support is a big deal, especially for competitive titles such as Fortnite. Traditionally, it’s believed that those using mouse and keyboard have an advantage as they enable users to be more precise and react quicker.
Microsoft seems to be placing the onus on developers to figure out how to implement support in their games, and it will be interesting to see if more developers adopt the input method, and how they plan to handle the potential split in the player base this could cause. For Fortnite specifically, players using keyboard and mouse will be matched against others doing the same.
First-person shooters are, naturally, the genre mouse and keyboard is perhaps best suited for, and some players of competitive titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Battlefield V, PUBG, Overwatch may welcome the support.
This also opens up the console to accommodate a variety of other genres, such as real-time strategy, much better,. Historically, titles in this genre such as Civilization or Halo Wars have been tweaked to work with controllers. Mouse and keyboard support also opens the door to a bunch of touch-based titles to appear on the console.
