Microsoft reduces latency in Xbox Cloud Gaming and adds mouse and keyboard support

Xbox Cloud Gaming (aka Project xCloud), which allows you to stream Xbox games from the cloud to TVs, PCs, and mobile devices, will soon support mouse and keyboard. Microsoft encourages game developers to prepare for this event and implement appropriate improvements in their projects, if necessary.

“Xbox has had keyboard and mouse support for several years now, and we’re working on adding that support for streaming for PC users,” explained Morgan Brown, Software Engineer on the Xbox Game Streaming team. “You can add support to your game now, and console users who use keyboard and mouse will appreciate it. As soon as we finish the work, it will automatically become available on streaming.”

Currently, a very limited number of Xbox games support the use of a mouse and keyboard. So, support is present in Minecraft, Halo: Infinite, Halo: MCC, Gears 5 and Sea of ​​Thieves.

In addition, Microsoft talked about the work on the new Display Details API, which is designed to reduce the delay in game streaming. It is reported that the delay reduction can be up to 72 ms. This uses Direct Capture, which replicates the hardware features in software, eliminating VSync latency, double or triple buffering, and even the scaling required for TVs.

Many games already support Direct Capture to improve performance through Xbox Cloud Gaming. According to Microsoft, the resulting latency with this technology can be 2-12ms, while with the classic rendering pipeline it is 8-74ms. But it is important to note that Direct Capture supports resolutions up to 1440p and does not support Dynamic Resolution and HDR.

For most developers, the resolution limit won’t be a big deal, as Xbox Cloud Gaming streams at 1080p for PC and web, and 720p for mobile. Microsoft plans to add support for 1440p and even 4K in the future, but no timeline has been given yet.