PC Gamers! You won’t have to spend more money to make your Xbox One controller work with your computer. Unlike the 360 which requires a wired controller or an extra dongle, the Xbox One’s controller will work fine with your PC games. Well, it’ll work fine with your PC after a software update in 2014.
It takes time, I guess. Microsoft told Penny Arcade that it’s because of the overhaul in the underlying technology between the Xbox One controller and Xbox 360 controller. They may look the same but the guts are a lot different. Specifically, Microsoft told Penny Arcade:
“New wireless protocol, combined with the ability to work in ‘wired’ mode, and the addition of features like Impulse triggers, means that new software has to be written and optimised for the PC.”
Microsoft has to make sure that current PC games that are built for the Xbox 360 will work with the Xbox One. So yeah, it sucks that you can’t use an Xbox One controller with the PC until 2014 but it’s pretty nice to be able to have one controller to rule them all. [Penny Arcade via Engadget]