In August, Microsoft revealed that the Xbox One controller will work on Windows PC games but that won"t happen until sometime in 2014, due to the need to create a special set of drivers. This week, the company"s director of product management Albert Penello re-confirmed that commitment in response to a rumor that Microsoft was planning on not allowing current Xbox One controllers to work on PCs in favor of a Windows-specific gamepad.
In a post on NeoGAF, Penello stated those rumors were "100% wrong." He said that when Microsoft releases the Windows drivers for the Xbox One controller, they will indeed work with the ones that are currently out on the market. He added:
There is no plan to do a new, separate controller that only works on Windows. It will be the same as it is on Xbox 360 - the Xbox One controller you have today will work. That"s not to say that we may not ship also PC SKU of the Xbox One controller, much like we do on Xbox 360.
In another NeoGAF message, Penello said while the controller will work with Windows "as-is" in wired mode, the development team is still working on how the gamepad could work on a PC in wireless mode.
As far as when the Windows drivers for the controller will be released, Penello did not have an update on that topic, saying only that it will occur "this year". He did state, "When the update comes out and we have more details, I can explain the holdup."
A few days ago, a third party developer, Lucas Assis, released a method to get the Xbox One controller to work on a PC but it"s a bit complicated and not for the tech newbie.