Microsoft will release Windows PC drivers to enable the use of an Xbox One controller with a PC "very soon," said Larry Hryb, director of Xbox programming, in a post on the forum NeoGAF earlier this week.

"Soon. Very soon," said Hryb, responding to a post wondering out loud about the availability of the drivers.

Microsoft said last August that it planned to make the Xbox One controller compatible with PC at some point in 2014. At the time, a spokesperson explained that the controller would require new software in order to optimize its performance with a PC, and that the company had to do some work to ensure that PC games compatible with an Xbox 360 controller would also work with an Xbox One controller.

Earlier this year, Albert Penello, senior director of product planning and management for Xbox, said that Microsoft had "no plan" to release a separate Xbox One controller that would only be compatible with PCs. The upcoming drivers, said Penello, will allow all existing Xbox One controllers to be used on PC. The gamepads will work when plugged in via USB, but there's no indication yet if they'll be playable wirelessly.

On Xbox 360, the wired controller — which was available at the console's launch in November 2005 — was always compatible with PCs. Players who wanted to use a wireless Xbox 360 controller on their computers had to purchase a separate wireless receiver, which wasn't released until June 2006.