Razer are a company known for their gaming hardware, including laptops, PCs, peripherals, and more, and with esports growing in popularity Razer has become involved with the field, providing hardware for those who want the best equipment to stay at the top of their game. Gamereactor recently got the chance to speak with Razer's CEO Min-Liang Tan, and we discussed esports, and specifically how esports has influenced Razer's direction:
"We are actually one of the pioneers of esports," he responded. "We were supporting esports from the very early days. It's a little known fact, but we were actually the world's first sponsors of the first $100,000 [US dollars event] in the world. Back then $100,000 tournament was massive. Nobody ever did a hundred thousand dollar tournament and we were the first to sponsor that. We were also one of the first to actually sponsor esports athletes. Back when Fatality was one of the first esports athletes out there, this was a very long time ago. This was even before esports as a term existed, terms like pro gaming."
"I think for us we've grown alongside and I think the esports community recognises that we are one of the pioneers of esports and we continue to support that. Today, Team Razer, which is our esports brand, we've got over 250 esports athletes that we sponsor. We are consistently on top of the podiums and it's a fact that more esports athletes use Razer products than anything else. So that's our continued commitment to esports."
During our time we also asked whether esports athletes are important when considering designs for new products, to which he said: "The esports athletes are actually an integral part of our validation process. For us we use top engineers and designers. Designers and engineers make great product, but esports athletes actually field test prototypes for us in tournaments. They extensively give us feedback and allows us to design better product. So they're definitely a part of the design process for us."
So clearly Tan holds esports in high regards, especially when it comes to esports' impact on Razer and the things it produces. What other fields and companies do you think esports has had a big influence on in recent years?