The Xbox Cloud Gaming service is now available on a huge range of devices, from iOS and Android to PCs, Xbox consoles and even Samsung TVs. As the service continues to gain momentum, Microsoft is eager for more updates. Currently, xCloud servers are already equipped with Xbox Series X hardware, and soon the service will feature new low-latency technology as well as keyboard and mouse support.
In a new video presentation about upcoming Xbox Cloud Gaming enhancements, Microsoft engineer Morgan Brown confirmed that mouse and keyboard support for streaming is on the way, urging developers to support the additional input method. Xbox consoles already support a mouse and keyboard, but it’s up to developers to incorporate them into games. As The Verge notes, this could lead to games like Sea of Thieves, Minecraft and Halo Infinite getting mouse and keyboard support.
As for Microsoft’s latency improvements, the company is currently working on a new “Direct Capture” method for streaming that reduces latency from 74 ms to 12 ms. The disadvantage is the lower maximum resolution (4K vs. 1440p), but since xCloud is currently limited to 1080p, this should not be a problem.
There’s no specific timeline for when the new features will be introduced, but we should see an xCloud update before the end of the year.
It’s common knowledge that latency is the biggest problem with streaming games at the moment. Visually the picture is acceptable, but if the gameplay seems slightly unresponsive, you will have less fun than playing the game on a real device. Nvidia made some progress in this area last year, offering 120FPS streaming and servers based on the RTX 3080. Now Microsoft is going to make some major improvements in this area as well.
