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Microsoft now lets you stream PC games to an Xbox One and use a controller

Microsoft now lets you stream PC games to an Xbox One and use a controller

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Xbox app Windows 10
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Microsoft is now letting Xbox One owners stream their PC games to the console and use a controller to play them. A newly updated app, Wireless Display app, from Microsoft enables the support so you can play Steam games or other titles directly on an Xbox One. You can use a regular Xbox controller to control the remote PC, enabling game play or even the ability to use an Xbox for presentations.

Microsoft’s Wireless Display app uses Miracast to create a connection between a PC and the Xbox One, and you can cast to the Xbox using the winkey + P combination. There are different latency modes for gaming and watching videos from a remote PC, and the app is ideal if you want to project a stream or video onto the Xbox. You won’t be able to stream protected content like Netflix, though.

From Surface Hub to Xbox One

Microsoft’s Wireless Display app has been available to testers for months under various different names, but it’s now officially released for all Xbox One owners. The Wireless Display app was previously dubbed Connect on Windows, and it started as an app for the Surface Hub. Microsoft enabled mouse, keyboard, touch, and stylus support through the same app to connect back and control the projecting PC, and it’s now added controller support for the Xbox version. While Microsoft has been working on streaming PC games to the Xbox One for years, this seems to be the best method to play Steam titles on an Xbox One.

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t support keyboard and mouse input, so you won’t be able to stream PC games to an Xbox One and use traditional inputs for now. That could change, as Microsoft recently introduced Xbox One keyboard and mouse support late last year for a number of games. For now, this is the best way to play any PC games on an Xbox One.