That Microsoft is heavily pushing PC gaming once again is an understatement. Their E3 press conference was full of titles that were Play Anywhere cross-buy (and even some cross-play) between the Xbox One and PC, and the Scorpio announcement felt more akin to a new graphics card step-up that a PC would get. In this light, it was not too strange to hear Head of Xbox Phil Spencer’s announcement in an interview to PCGamesN that the Xbox One would receive keyboard and mouse support soon, with the keyboard currently functional in developer mode while “mouse support is a little bit further away . . . more like months away, but we don’t have an exact date yet.”
Keyboard and mouse usage on the console would further blur the line between it and the PC, but would also increase functionality and ease of use for gamers. It is easy to recall games that were developed for the PC and later released for the console that never felt quite right due to switching to controller, like the Command and Conquer games, for example. Just as PC players use controllers when it makes sense, so, too, will console gamers have the ability to choose based on their preference.
Naturally, nothing is set in stone yet, and not every game may support the additional inputs, but with Microsoft leading the way in regard to Play Anywhere, it can be expected for first-party games to at least offer this option.