The controller vs mouse and keyboard debate is one that may never die – but now some of the biggest names in esports and streaming have had their say on the difference in new Call of Duty battle royale Warzone.
While the debate has always been a present one, it heightened when Fortnite Battle Royale was made cross-play, allowing players on various platforms to play against each other in the same lobby.
Since then, aim assist on controllers became a huge problem for PC players, while controller players were incensed at the clear mechanical advantage of using a mouse and keyboard. This argument has continued into Warzone, and Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar, Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek and Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag have had their say.
After dying to what he believes is a controller player, Summit immediately called out “the robot” and how powerful controllers are in Warzone. Shroud added that it’s especially prevalent with pistols, implying that pistol use with a controller and aim assist is overpowered.
Summit then chimed back in with a slightly different opinion, and one that isn’t a common argument in the debate. He said: “On mouse and keyboard, the longer a gunfight lasts, the worse the situation gets for us. I feel like on console, the longer the fight lasts, the better the console player’s going to do.”
(Timestamp 00:50 for mobile viewers)
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He added as a final note that “the robot is going to be the long-term game-changer,” to summarize his view.
Nadeshot: Close range “easier” on controller
Similarly, Nadeshot believes controller players have some big advantages – but doesn’t entirely sit on either side of the debate. In a tweet on March 25, he said that it is an “absolute fact” that “close/medium range gunfights are easier on controller,” but also that long-range gunfights and sniping are “obviously much easier” on keyboard and mouse.
Close/medium range gunfights are easier on controller because of aim assist. I played on both this week and this is an ABSOLUTE fact. Long range and sniping, KB+M obviously much easier.
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) March 26, 2020
As has become clear, this debate will probably never reach its natural conclusion, with arguments being made for either case and people often believing that their preferred input is at somewhat of a disadvantage.
What is clear though, for the most part, is that a lot of the top names in the industry are having a blast on Warzone – regardless of how they play.