How are games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare able to detect mouse and keyboard usage on console?

Question

How are games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare able to detect mouse and keyboard usage on console?

In: Technology

Answer 1

The game’s code uses different functions to read from mouse and keyboard than it does for controllers. So it can easily tell which it is receiving input from, and it can report that to the servers so you can see what input devices other players are using.

They wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if you were using some device that you plug a mouse and keyboard into and it pretends they are a controller. But the game would still be interpreting that input as a controller so you wouldn’t necessarily get the full benefit of mouse and keyboard.