Microsoft And Razer Cooperating To Bring Mouse And Keyboard Domination To Xbox One

Ask any PC gamer who stays far away from consoles why they don’t play console games and many of them will tell you it’s all about the controls. Once you are used to a mouse and keyboard, gaming with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One wireless controller on shooters isn’t particularly smooth. Consoles gamers have also long felt that allowing people to play games with a mouse and keyboard gives them an unfair advantage.

This hasn't stopped Microsoft from promising to add mouse and keyboard support to the Xbox One console -- Minecraft already has support for a mouse and keyboard. A new report has surfaced that claims earlier in the year Microsoft gave a presentation to developers that talked about adding keyboard and mouse support more broadly for the Xbox One. Documents claiming to be from that presentation have leaked showing that Microsoft was talking up the Razer Turret keyboard and mouse along with a partnership with Razer.

Razer was reportedly part of that presentation and at this point it's not clear if the plans are still in the works. Microsoft's presentation showed that it was considering the implementation of Razer Chroma RGB lighting in Xbox One games. Those lights can give visual cues on when abilities are ready to use again for instance. Microsoft also talked up rules and guidelines for devs on implementing keyboard and mouse support. Part of that was making it clear to the devs that gamepad support is required on all Xbox titles; meaning no keyboard/mouse-only games.

Xbox One consoles will be able to support only one keyboard and mouse at a time. Mouse support would work with up to five buttons along with horizontal and vertical mouse wheel movement. Microsoft would support the ability to query a mouse for capabilities, report absolute pointer location, report relative pointer movement, and give the ability to set cursor glyph and visibility. A new API for polling all that data will be offered assuming the plan moves forward.

Since some gamers who love the gamepad might cry foul if pitted against keyboard/mouse gamers will nilly, Microsoft reportedly strongly suggested that the use of keyboard/mouse be separate in the matchmaking rules. All USB mice supported by Windows would be supported on the Xbox, including wireless mice. Mice with custom drivers or Bluetooth wouldn’t be compatible.