Microsoft testing Xbox mouse and keyboard support for Edge browser, welcoming Google Stadia

What you need to know

• Microsoft is testing mouse and keyboard support for its Edge browser on Xbox consoles.
• Mouse and keyboard support works to some effect with Google Stadia.
• It's quicker and easier to navigate the web with a mouse and keyboard than with an Xbox controller.

Microsoft recently began testing the Chromium version of its Edge browser on Xbox consoles such as the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The Chromium version of Edge has the same general interface as Microsoft Edge on Windows 10, including tab support. At launch, however, it had some limitations. Most notably, you could not navigate the browser with a mouse and keyboard. That's since changed, as mouse and keyboard support is rolling out to people testing the new Edge on Xbox consoles.

Tom Warren from The Verge spotted Xbox mouse and keyboard support for the Edge browser recently and shared videos of it in action. In his first video, Warren shows how a mouse and keyboard can be used to navigate the web, including writing in a Word document. His second video shows off functionality that gamers are likely more interested in, playing Google Stadia games on an Xbox console.

At this early stage, it doesn't appear that you can change the DPI settings for the mouse within the Edge browser. That makes navigating a game within Stadia awkward, but other than that it appears to work well.

Microsoft's own game streaming service, Xbox Game Streaming, works on the console through the Edge browser, but does not support mouse and keyboard through the web. NVIDIA GeForce now is blocked within Edge for Xbox, according to Warren.

To use the new Edge on an Xbox console, you have to be an Alpha Skip-Ahead tester.