No joke, another day, another gaming keyboard announced. Make that two…

About a week or so ago, Asus, one of the biggest Taiwanese PC related manufacturer just announced a new gaming keyboard that is part of the Republic of Gamer line.  Right after, Razer, another big gamer’s brand based in Taiwan as well, also announced a refresh of their gaming mechanical keyboards line.  As one might have guessed, the mechanical gaming keyboard market is getting really crowded.  Just about everybody has at least one or two offering by now.  Upon closer examination, Asus and Razer each took a different approach to differentiate their products from the rest of the group.

Let’s take a look at Asus’ first.  Upon a quick glance, Asus’s offering really is nothing new, but iteration of what we have in the market.  Asus emphasizes a better microcontroller, better macro capability, clever software control and perhaps more colors.  What’s striking is likely the look since there’s isn’t much one can do beyond the standard Cherry MX RGB switches.  Asus went with fancy CNC aluminum face plates and accents.  Maybe their internal research shows that the look is what is going to help them stand out.  Maybe, maybe not.  I tend to think that the gamer is busy looking at the screen and rather than looking at the keyboard.  So, maybe the rainbow color pulsating across the keyboard and crazy blinking light pattern is a distraction tactics for the opponents of some sort.  Then again, I am going to assume that the opponents are online and nowhere near by or they are also too busy to pay attention.  One of these days, I will have to get educated on this.  Maybe it really is all about the looks for the spectators.  In that case, Asus proves again to be the genius and not me.

On the other hand, Razer, long have declared independence from Cherry by going with Kailh shows another path to stand out.  Instead, they chose to compete against Cherry MX switches by reiterating a “better” switch.  Building on the established Cherry MX technology, Razer worked with Kailh to make optimized switches for gamers.  They have one that is kind of like MX blue and another like MX brown.  They colored them green (after Razer’s logo color) and orange respectively.  Instead of RGB lighting and fancy looks, Razer shifts the emphasis toward faster reaction time and thus implying better performance.  No wonder Razer is one of the premier gaming peripheral brands.  Now, if I am a gamer, that’s what I want to hear whether such claim is true or not.  I don’t know if human fingers can reliably take advantage of sub millimeter differences in key presses, no one knows for certain without a good study.  Then again, any edge is welcomed in a competition I suppose. If travel distance is the only metric, then scissor switches should be the best possible gaming keyboard switches.  Well…

In any case, both Logitech and Metadot seem to combine both approaches hoping to make their product stand out even more in this increasingly crowded space.  As I noted in another blog, a lot of the keyboard makers are now moving upstream and compete in the high price bracket and leaving the lower tiers to smaller keyboard makers.  I am beginning to wonder if an attrition will begin shortly if the market doesn't continue to expand.  However, I don't know where attrition may begin if it does.  I believe the lower end will give us the first clue to the tilt and leaning of the market.  The forecast is that while PC sales will continue to contract because of a longer life cycle, the PC gaming side of things is booming.  So, I am hoping that this is the incoming high tide that will float all boasts higher because I can't wait to see what innovations come along the benefit everyone.  Maybe some new improvement comes later are better key cap designs and more ergonomic keyboard layout, for example....