Xbox Project xCloud has continued to expand since its trials in 2019, since launching with an Android-native app, plus a web-based app available for desktop and iOS PCs. Also, Microsoft introduced Xbox console support late last year, later allowing Xbox Series X|S exclusives like Microsoft Flight Simulator to jump to ageing Xbox One consoles. According to Microsoft’s recent comments Flight Simulator head Jorg Neumann, Microsoft now adds mouse and keyboard support to some titles.
“The next step for us is mouse [and] keyboard,” stated Neumann in a recent community Q&A. “This is platform-level support, so it has nothing to do with us. Obviously, the mouse and keyboard works for our sim. So the platform team is working on this. I know I can’t give a date because it’s the platform team. I don’t know their dates, but it’s coming.” While Microsoft Flight Simulator currently supports keyboard and mouse on Xbox consoles and PC, the experience mandates an Xbox gamepad when streamed via the cloud.
Keyboard and mouse support would improve ease of access via the web, alleviating the PC controller requirement. It is also easy to look at Microsoft’s growing portfolio of PC, including Windows exclusives like Age of Empires IV, with keyboard and mouse support removing a key in bringing these titles to the cloud.
