The Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X could be getting keyboard and mouse support sooner than expected. While the feature has been touted since 2015 and has been available for users within the Xbox Insider program for awhile, it's yet to be officially revealed by Microsoft. That is of course until Microsoft Poland issued and deleted an announcement pertaining to the feature.
According to GamePros, a blog that managed to grab a screenshot of the announcement and running it through Google Translate, yields this:
“Some players prefer to conquer the virtual world with a pad in hand. Others, above all, value the precision of the mouse movements. Others, however, can not imagine playing on anything other than a keyboard. Now, owners of Xbox One consoles (including Xbox One S models and the latest Xbox One X) can choose these accessories and decide for themselves what they will use. 'PC Master Race'? Thanks to the keyboard support, we can already successfully talk about 'Xbox Master Race'!”
Nonetheless, there's no information on how this feature would actually work, what apps would make use of it or if using a keyboard and mouse would provide tangible advantages. Blizzard, creator of popular shooter Overwatch is opposed to such a move. Citing it ruins the experience and could be seen as cheating.
“We have contacted both first-party console manufacturers and expressed our concern about the use of mouse and keyboard and input conversion devices,” said Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan. “We have lobbied and will continue to lobby for first-party console manufacturers to either disallow mouse and keyboard and input conversion devices or openly and easily support mouse and keyboard for players. I encourage you to reach out to the hardware manufacturers and express your concerns (but please do so in a productive and respectful way).”
Considering that the Xbox One runs on the Windows 10 core, it would be interesting to see if Microsoft tweaks the console's UI. More so when the recent Fall Update to the Xbox One smoothened out the rough edges of past efforts.
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