Cloud is the back-door way to play console exclusives with mouse and keyboard

Sony's PS5 supports keyboard and mouse input for some titles (Fortnite, Final Fantasy XIV) but not as a universal input method. Microsoft's Xbox Series X supports keyboard and mouse for more titles than PS5 but still a minority of the catalogue. Most console-exclusive titles assume controller input.

Cloud-streaming a console title to a PC client running keyboard and mouse — through Game Pass Cloud, PS Plus Premium's cloud streaming, or Steam Link from a Sony / Microsoft remote play setup — exposes those titles to keyboard and mouse input the consoles themselves wouldn't allow.

Game Pass Cloud on PC client: keyboard and mouse input is passed through to the cloud session for titles that support it. Some Game Pass titles that don't support keyboard and mouse on console do support it through cloud streaming because the cloud session is fundamentally a Windows VM and the Windows-native input handling kicks in.

PS Plus Premium streaming a PS-exclusive title to a PC: more limited because Sony's input handling is stricter. Some titles work; many don't. Bloodborne via PS Plus Premium streaming to PC with keyboard and mouse is functional, which is something Bloodborne on PS5 native doesn't allow.

Steam Remote Play streaming PS5 games via PS Remote Play: more of a workaround than a feature, but works for certain configurations.

Console exclusives are a major slice of PC gaming envy. PS exclusives (God of War, Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank, until they port years later) are sometimes available via cloud streaming before they get PC ports. Playing them with PC-native input via cloud is a real benefit.

Accessibility. Players who have difficulty with controller input (arthritis, RSI, certain disabilities) gain access to console catalogues through cloud streaming with keyboard and mouse in a way native consoles don't allow.

Competitive mixed-input scenarios. Fortnite players who want to play with mouse aim against console controller players use cloud streaming as the workaround.

Standard framing: cloud is a degraded version of console play, with added latency and lower visual quality. True for some users in some scenarios.

This counterpoint: cloud opens input modalities that the consoles themselves block. For specific users with specific preferences (mouse and keyboard, accessibility tools, mixed input setups), cloud is a strictly better experience than the underlying console.

The cloud-vs-console comparison shouldn't be framed as cloud being a downgrade. It's a different product with different trade-offs, and for some users the trade-offs favour cloud.

Sony and Microsoft could explicitly disable keyboard and mouse input through cloud streaming for titles where they don't want it available. They haven't, partly because doing so would break some legitimate use cases.

Game publishers could also block this on a per-title basis through their input handling. Some have (multiplayer titles especially) to prevent mixed-input matchmaking exploits.

If the practice becomes widely-marketed it might attract enough attention to get clamped down on. The current under-the-radar status is partly what keeps it working.

If you want to play a console exclusive with mouse and keyboard, check whether cloud streaming with PC client works for that title. The answer is yes more often than you'd expect.

Don't depend on this as a long-term strategy. The Sony / Microsoft / publisher reaction could change the practice. But for current single-player experiences with one-off play sessions, it's a workable option that the cloud services don't market and the conventional cloud framing doesn't acknowledge.