- Robert, while you are president of Razer, most of people know you simply as the Razerguy, but not many know that you’re actually very involved with the R&D process for many Razer products. Can you tell us a little bit more on your part in the R&D of Razer’s products?

I’d like to believe that my input into new products is useful but as Razer has grown and matured we have established teams of research and developers whose sole job in life is to understand what gamers want and need, remain atop of the competitive environment and prepare our engineering and design teams with ground breaking product concepts. My main focus is to keep them informed as to what I hear on the ground in my unique role as Razerguy. Over the last ten years this exposure to gamers, both live and online has been amazing … so many of our fans express their ideas and needs for improved hardware directly to me.

- Prior to this interview, we’ve asked our forums users to tell us what would they ask you and the most common question was something that we’ve also covered in our reviews – is Razer finally planning to use shielded cable on its mouse line in order to make it more durable?

Yes, and that has already become a running change for all of our mice. The comments we read and the RMAs we receive are from mice that were manufactured nearly two years ago.

- One of the never-ending debates on forums is concerning choice between laser and optical mouse. What would be your recommendations regarding particular game type?

Wow, that’s like asking if you prefer automatic or stick transmission. Both will get you to your destination and therefore become a matter of personal preference. If you are asking me my personal preference I would have to say infrared optical due to 1) its speed of movement (IPS) and 2) its stability. Of course I’m not a world class pro and like I said before this is a matter of personal preference.

- Do you think that many manufacturers are misinforming potential customers with advertisement of DPI, while ignoring actual inches per second movement?

Absolutely! Ten years ago when all other mice were 400 to 450 DPI and Razer introduced the original Boomslang at 1000 and 2000 DPI models, there was a real major advantage in precision and tracking. Once a mouse hits 1800 DPI the advantage that DPI offers diminishes. Bandwidth, USB ultra-polling and of course as you mentioned, inches per second are much more important metrics than DPI. In a poker analogy, DPI is jacks-or-better and high IPS, 16-bit bandwidth and USB overclocking are a full house to a gamer.

- How far in development is Razer’s wireless mouse? Are we any closer to time when we’ll be able to say that gaming with wireless mouse won’t affect even those hardcore gamers?

That is hard to claim until we can actually release a wireless mouse. On paper it can be done. In practice we will have to wait and see. Our policy is always to enhance the gaming experience, so when we feel that we are ready with any technology, only then will we bring it to market.

- For quite some time, besides being known for great packaging, performance and quality of Razer’s products, products under the Razer brand were also entitled to being among those with a higher price, targeting only hardcore gamers. With release of the Razer Salmosa mouse, that policy has finally changed. Where do “gamers on budget” fit in Razer’s vision?

Our goal in the beginning of any product is not to set out to make it expensive or lower priced; it is to make the very best product we can deliver in order to enhance the gamers experience in their chosen game. As Razer has grown as a company, expanded into new gaming categories and increased the volume potential of any product, our manufacturing clout goes up and therefore the cost of components goes down. For the Salmosa we simply made the product we believe gamers wanted and passed the lower costs down to them in the form of a lower retail price. In the long term as Razer grows you will see prices come down from those days when we were a small, almost niche company selling only a few thousand mice per month.


- Lately, Razer has also become known for its wide range of multimedia products. Is Razer switching its focus from products aimed to enthusiasts to wider market of consumer electronics?

While our focus is still gaming we realize that 1) the PC desktop is used for more than just games today and 2) Razer’s engineering genius should have no limits. The desktop is being used as an interactive entertainment center and if we are correct this trend toward the desktop and away from the family entertainment center will continue. The Razer Mako is a great example of a desktop entertainment product.

-  Razer Mako 2.1 audio system, quite honestly, kicks ass. Can you tell us how did you come to this idea and something more about cooperation with THX?

Thank you for that compliment. Yes, this product has been critically acclaimed. The goal here was as I just mentioned was to create an audiophile quality desktop solution for the PC. Razer introduced the concept to THX and they provided much of the engineering. I think that you will be seeing more of this type of product philosophy from us in the near future.


- Most of people we know would describe users of Razer’s products as hardcore. Still, Razer is offering products for Mac market, so how do you position yourself there, having in mind that Mac users are usually putting design in front of actual performance and quality? Also, where is Razer standing in terms of Razer’s products in an office environment?

Hmmm, perhaps that design focus was more of an attribute of the prototypical original Mac owner, but I think that there are a couple of noteworthy trends under foot here. One is the popularity of portable gaming; two is the lower price of Mac books; and three is that one and two have attracted a large number of PC loyalists over to the Mac camp. Like it or not there is a trend afoot toward Mac and gaming. I know that we have heard this before but this time I think it is here to stay.

- It is well known that Razer has its own R&D/engineering teams and that all of your technologies are built in-house. However, Razer has also partnered with Microsoft and recently with Everglide in creating products under their brands. Is this trend going to continue?

And don’t forget our Belkin project … First I must say that it is an honor and provides Razer much street cred when companies like Microsoft or Belkin want to co-develop a mouse or a keyboard or a gamepad with us. The opportunity to do work for some of the biggest and best companies in the world says a lot for what our “competitors” think about what we have accomplished in just ten years of operations. It does support our belief in developing, designing and engineering our own products. Opportunities like these are judged on what other Razer products we have in our roadmap, what internal resources we would need to assign to a project and most importantly can we create a product for a partner that can give the end user an edge in their game.

- While both Logitech and Microsoft have products aimed at gamers and enthusiasts, general reception is that Razer is the only large company that actually focuses only to gamers and hardcore users. What does make Razer’s products different than those from Logitech and Microsoft?

Perhaps a closer connection to gamers and their needs. Having outside innovation and collaborating with other companies to develop new products can separate us from the pack. Creating our own technologies, particularly our own firmware concepts can make a huge difference. That way all the OEM makers and copycats have to constantly play catch-up. Please don’t misread my comments here, as I admire what both Microsoft and Logitech have accomplished over the years. Their primary focus is on mass market home and office products while ours are strictly on gaming products.

- Razer has recently launched Salmosa mouse and Aurantia Keyboard for Chinese market. Having in mind that the size of this market, is this something that Razer is going to continue doing and does Razer have any plans for investing more in Asian market?

The demand of this or any other market will dictate our product development. Where there are special or unique needs for products, features, forms and software we will consider them.

- Do you feel that more “computer companies” should sponsor e-sport? How is Razer selecting which team or a player to sponsor?

We have been a proud sponsor of individual players and teams since 1999. This is only a part of our way of saying thank you to the community for supporting our products and we will continue to grow our community support. In order to keep it as fair and equitable as possible we do not actively seek out players and these all initially come from online applications through Razerzone or meeting team mangers at live events. Note that we seek a blend of male and female, amateur and professionals, from all over the globe. In past interviews and through my blog I have often stated that any “youth oriented” company should get involved and actively support our community.

- Many analysts are claiming that most of gamers are switching from PCs to consoles. Does Razer have any plans of entering to this market?

OMG I have been hearing this same comment for years – every time there is a new gen console the press descends on me wanting comments about the impending demise of PC gaming. IMO there is about a 70% cross-over of PC and console ownership but what makes this difficult to track is that no researcher is asking the right questions – like which platform do you spend the most time with? PC software sales are going digital while console sales can still be accurately tracked through traditional retailers. This type of research is apples to oranges and IMHO PC gaming is still live and vital. If Razer decides to enter the console hardware category we will only do so provided we have technology that clearly enhances game play.


- Razer also joined Video Games Live program which promotes in-game music. Can you tell us more on Razer’s role in this program?

We’ve watched gaming grow up and this is just a part of the evolution. People both inside and outside of gaming now are starting to recognize gaming isn’t just about blowing stuff up. Since Razer has seriously entered the audio products arena with Barracuda sound cards and headsets, Piranha headsets and most recently the Mako 2.1 desktop speaker system, it just seemed to be a perfect tie-in to partner with VGL and associate the Razer name with gaming sounds.

- We've heard you say a few times that Razer is focused on innovation in gaming, yet we didn't see any breakthrough product from Razer which would change the interaction and move away from usual keyboard/mouse combo on PC platform. Nintendo obviously did a great job with a motion sensor controller, while OCZ is trying something new with the NIA. Do you have any such plans and how do you see future of gaming?

It’s pretty interesting to think about the future of user interactivity and to be certain we are aware of the scientific opportunities that await us in the next decade. We have to measure this enthusiasm for things like motion sensors with our knowledge that real gamers don’t want gimmicks and that whatever new advanced technologies await them must perform with accuracy, speed and precision. Anyway we are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives (with all due respect to Criswell’s predictions).