For a while now, it’s been possible to use handheld gaming controllers to play games in Chrome and Edge. Unfortunately, the experience is less than great due to input lag—and that’s something Microsoft wants to fix with the help of a new Gamepad API for Chromium-based browsers.
The existing Gamepad API uses a polling-based system that repeatedly checks the states of every button and axis, then compares those states to detect when buttons are pressed and axes are moved. Microsoft’s proposed change is an event-driven system that immediately fires whenever buttons are pressed and axes are moved.
Allegedly, this would simplify input handling and reduce input latency for gaming controllers, putting them on par with keyboards and mice.
The improved Gamepad API would be welcome news for web-based gaming services like Amazon Luna. Currently, most users on in-browser cloud gaming platforms choose keyboard-and-mouse over controllers due to the higher latency experienced by the latter.
It’s unclear when the new API will be rolled out to the public. The feature tracker is still in early stages, though, so it may be a while.