Mouse and keyboard fans, rejoice: Microsoft is finally rolling out support for these peripherals for Xbox Cloud Gaming, so long as you're a selected Xbox Insider.
The company is rolling out mouse and keyboard support as part of its latest Xbox Update Preview for Alpha Skip-Ahead testers. That means general Xbox Insiders will still need to wait, but for those in the "invite only" testing program, you should be able to hook up your favorite mouse and keyboard to play games that previously required a controller.
Microsoft says mouse and keyboard support works in cloud gaming on Microsoft Edge and Chrome, as well as the Xbox App on PCs (for those enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview). If you're playing in a browser, you'll need to enable Preview features first. You'll find the option on xbox.com/play by clicking your profile picture, choosing Settings, and enabling Preview features.
The program currently supports 14 titles at this time. Not a ton, but enough to get you started with experiencing mouse and keyboard controls on Xbox Cloud Gaming:
Fortnite (browsers only)
ARK Survival Evolved
Sea of Thieves
Grounded
Halo Infinite
Atomic Heart
Sniper Elite 5
Deep Rock Galactic
High on Life
Zombie Army 4 Dead War
Gears Tactics
Pentiment
Doom 64
Age of Empires 2
Microsoft has acknowledged a known issue with Atomic Heart, as there can be issues when swapping from your controller to mouse and keyboard while streaming the game.
You'll also notice that games display controller UI elements until you start to use your mouse and keyboard to interact with the game. If you see "press A to start," for example, trying clicking or moving with WASD to adjust the UI.
Browser users should take note that the stream needs to be in full screen for your mouse and keyboard to work. If you want to exit full screen, hit the Escape key. You also need to click on a game stream element in order for the game to recognize your mouse input. You can also press F9 to exit out of mouse and keyboard controls for the game.