Overwatch director speaks out over mouse and keyboard on console

Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan recently took to the game’s forums to share his distaste for console players who play the game with a mouse and keyboard instead of a gamepad, declaring "The Overwatch team objects to the use of mouse and keyboard on console."

You can read his thoughts here on the post, but one of the most important things is that he calls for a clear mandate from console manufacturers regarding the use of keyboard and mouse.

Kapan claims that, in addition to the Overwatch team’s objections to the use of a M+KB, "we have contacted both first-party console manufactures and expressed our concern about the use of mouse and keyboard and input conversion devices."

This conversion things are recently on the rise, with players able to pay £120 or so for an XIM4 which allows users to connect a mouse and keyboard to their consoles and map inputs to their own liking.

This is bad for multiplayer titles, as we’ve seen every time the PC and console crowds have come together, starting with team FPS Shadowrun, which devolved into PC users using sniper rifles while console players all used swords and tried to avoid getting shot in the face long enough to close the difference.

Kapkan has pointed out his chosen points of action: "We have lobbied and will continue to lobby for first-party console manufacturers to either: Disallow mouse and keyboard and input conversion devices, OR openly and easily support mouse and keyboard for ALL players."

Although Kapkan might wish to ban all conversation devices, Stephen Soon, the COO of charity AbleGamers has pointed out that banning conversion devices will also ban a lot of assistive technologies, meaning some gamers that have trouble with gripping a standard controller could be punished.