GameInput v3.1 Unifies Your Console and PC Workflows
Access more accessories and write less platform-specific code with the latest GameInput release, now unified across console and PC with the October 2025 GDK release.
With the release of the October 2025 GDK (Game Development Kit), GameInput on console now has the same features you’ve been enjoying on PC! In addition to that, we have added some highly requested features like virtual device aggregation and the ability to query more information about connected accessories.
What to expect in the latest GameInput on PC and Console:
GameInput v3 Console and PC feature alignment: Beginning with the October 2025 GDK, the same-code, headers and library can be cross-compiled across PC and console. Just make sure to pull the latest GameInput NuGet package and use the included “gameinput.lib” for both of your build targets!
- Expanded gamepad support: Prior versions of GameInput required a minimum button set to enumerate gamepad capabilities. With the v3 release, the API will report a wider variety of gamepad devices, allowing you to query for the individual buttons and capabilities supported. This change will allow you to support a larger number of gamepad devices, spanning from timeless gamepad classics and more advanced device configurations.
- Device aggregation: We know supporting a variety of input device callbacks can get complex, especially when tracking input for specific users. Starting with the v3 release, you can choose to aggregate devices of a particular type into a single virtual device. This should greatly simplify device polling for single user scenarios.
- Access to more buttons and axes: GameInput now optionally exposes common gamepad buttons from wheel / flight stick devices (Menu/View/ABXY/D‑pad/thumb stick presses/paddles), so titles that key off “Gamepad” can still respond to those inputs without maintaining separate code paths.
Alongside these feature updates, we have also included various compatibility improvements to the platform as the device ecosystem evolves over time.
Available today via NuGet
If you developing solely for PC, you can grab the latest GameInput redistributable from our NuGet site and you’re good to go.
For Xbox Console developers, grab the latest October 2025 GDK update from here and pair that with the gameinput.lib that ships within the NuGet redistributable to benefit from the latest features.