Phil Spencer, current head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, responded to a question on Twitter regarding the possibility of streaming your PC to the Xbox One console, and in doing so may have revealed a feature that is coming soon to Xbox One.
We’ve already known for some time that Xbox one is going to receive an OS update to bring the console into the Windows 10 ecosystem. At E3 in June, Microsoft announced that after Windows 10 launches, you’ll be able to stream your Xbox One games to any Win10 PC or tablet that is on the same network via Game Streaming.
Because the Xbox itself will also be updated to Windows 10 later this year, it stands to reason that streaming your PC desktop to an Xbox One could be possible. A curious fan asked Phil Spencer about this possibility,
Phil replied, “Still Finishing Xbox to Win10 streaming right now. I like the idea of Win10->Xbox One streaming but don’t have a plan yet,” and another user quickly pointed out that mouse support would be required for this to happen. The reply to this comment is when Spencer let the detail slip.
Now, if you do a little bit of reading between the lines here, this becomes quite revealing. For one thing, keyboard support already exists on Xbox One. You can plug in a USB keyboard, and it will work in the browser. It is not, however, currently supported by any games. Secondly, Phil Spencer made it clear that the idea of streaming your PC to an Xbox One is not in the works, and therefore not the reason for supporting these input devices.
It’s hard to imagine what use a mouse would have on a console — unless it means that future games on Xbox One could be played with a keyboard and mouse. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
