Yup, you read that right. Xbox controllers will soon let players map keyboard keys to controller buttons. Currently, this feature is only available to Alpha Insider Members
This news comes from VGC on Twitter, who linked their article, noting the feature is only available to Alpha Insider Members. According to Xbox, Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead are different branches of the Xbox Insider Program, that are “invite-only” rings that receive builds earlier than the rest of the Insider rings.” The difference between the two tiers are that Alpha members get previews to the next Xbox OS update, while Alpha Skip-Ahead receives future builds.
According to VGC’s article, they include the latest patch notes to the latest testing, which includes the keyboard mapping ability for Xbox controllers. Currently, this feature is only working on the Xbox Elite Series 2 and the Xbox Adaptive controller. So far, it’s not clear if the feature will work on the Xbox Elite Series 1 controller. The way you could map the buttons is through the Xbox Accessories app on both console and Windows.
Xbox also says that players can only map a single key along with any key modifier, like WIN, CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT. “For example, you could map Ctrl+Alt+W, but not Ctrl+Alt+W+E… Input support depends on game support…”
In response to this in VGC’s comment section on Twitter one user, JayRembert2 says, “Calling it now. The next Xbox will be a mini gaming PC that will allow you to run Windows.” This is all speculation, but currently, the Xbox One and Series consoles do have a Microsoft Edge browser app built-in, making it possible to play more than just Xbox games.
This is pretty cool though. The Xbox controller, specifically the Elite Series 2, can act like a small macro-pad along with a keyboard and mouse set up on the console, which Xbox currently supports keyboard and mouse in some titles on Xbox consoles. The same can be said if you don’t play on a console and solely on PC.