President of Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entetainment Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed over Twitter that the “basic functions” of the PS4's DualShock 4 will be compatible on Windows PCs without the need for additional drivers.
When asked whether Sony planned to release PC compatibility drivers for the DualShock 4, Yoshida tweeted back “the analog sticks and buttons will work just fine” and the “basic functions” of the controller will work by default. Of course, Yoshida remained vague about what those “basic functions” actually were.
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) October 4, 2013 October 4, 2013
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) October 4, 2013 October 4, 2013
The folks at Joystiq noted that most third-party controllers use the XInput API, which sort of tricks your computer into thinking that controller is actually an Xbox 360 controller. It's worth mentioning that the DualShock 3 controller doesn't have XInput, and requires additional software, tweaks, and quite possibly headaches to properly run on a PC.
When asked if games would automatically recognize a DualShock 4 as a DualShock 4, Yoshida tersely said to wait for a field report after the PS4 launch. There are plenty of other questions out there regarding the DS4's touchpad and motion controls, though I'd be perfectly content if games just recognized the controller's buttons and joysticks. Here's hoping that's the case come November.
