Mouse and keyboard support coming to Microsoft cloud gaming

digitaltrends.com:

Mouse and keyboard support is finally on the way for Microsoft’s cloud gaming service, formerly known as xCloud, though it may be a bit later this year before players get to test it out.

Jorg Neumann, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, opened up during a developer Q&A about incoming mouse and keyboard support for the game, claiming that the option is on its way. Microsoft’s popular streaming service has previously only supported touch controls and gamepads, but Neumann stated that keyboard and mouse support isn’t something that developers can opt to include themselves. Instead, he said Microsoft is working to implement the feature in an upcoming update which will, in turn, allow developers to finally provide players with such options in their games.

“The next step for us is mouse [and] keyboard,” Neumann stated. “This is platform-level support, so it has nothing to do with us. The platform team is working on this, and no, I can’t give a date because it’s the platform team.” He stopped short of confirming precisely when users can expect to get their hands on the cloud service’s keyboard and mouse support, but he seems confident about it showing up by the middle of the year.

“I don’t know their date, but it’s coming. I would say it’s in the next months. It’s not weeks. I’m hoping it will be done by June or so, but I can’t ever tell. Everybody wants it. I want it. It’s coming.,” he said.

Microsoft Flight Simulator was added to Microsoft’s cloud service earlier this month for Xbox Game Pass members, allowing subscribers to stream the game at 1080p/30 frames per second on supported devices. Hopefully, mouse and keyboard support won’t be terribly far behind.