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Xbox Cloud Gaming will be getting mouse and keyboard support

Latency is also getting a boost thanks to some in-development features.

Xbox cloud gaming service on a smartphone that is attached to a controller
Image: KnowTechie

Microsoft is getting close to unleashing multiple upgrades to its Xbox Cloud Gaming game streaming service. The biggest is keyboard and mouse support, which was mentioned back in March.

Xbox consoles have supported keyboard and mouse as inputs for some time now. Now Xbox engineers are working on bringing support to PC users that are using Xbox Cloud Gaming to stream games that aren’t part of the PC Game Pass.

In a new Xbox Game Streaming video aimed at developers, a Microsoft engineer encouraged developers to add keyboard and mouse support to their games now.

That way, once it comes to game streaming, it’ll be instantly available for users. That will also improve the list of games with support, which is short right now.

Latency is also getting a boost thanks to some in-development features. Those include a new Display Details API, which Microsoft says can save up to 72ms of latency. That’s a big deal and could get cloud gaming to feel more like a physical console.

The reason for the savings? A way to reproduce hardware features in the software, called Direct Capture. Using the new Direct Capture can reduce the display pipeline from 8-74ms to 2-12ms.

To do this, Microsoft had to drop some functionality. You can’t use HDR, and game resolution is limited to 1440p. That’s okay though, as Xbox Cloud Gaming limits the resolution to 720p on mobile and 1080p on PC or the web.

The future for cloud gaming, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, in particular, looks rosy. Console and PC hardware are still hard to get hold of, and the catalog of games on Microsoft’s offering keeps growing.

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Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.

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