Trading name Razer Inc. Area served Worldwide CEO Min-Liang Tan (2005–) CFO Edwin Chan | Type Private Website razerzone.com Technical support 00 1 760-448-8997 | |
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Key people Min-Liang Tan (CEO & Creative Director)
Robert Krakoff (President)
Khaw Kheng Joo (COO) Founded 1998, San Diego, California, United States Headquarters Carlsbad, California, United States Subsidiaries THX, OUYA, Inc., NextBit Systems Inc. Founders Min-Liang Tan, Robert Krakoff Profiles |
Razer USA Ltd., doing business as Razer Inc. (stylized as RΛZΞR), is an American company founded by Min-Liang Tan and Robert Krakoff, and headquartered in San Francisco, California, which specializes in computer hardware marketed specifically to gamers. Razer is dedicated to the creation and development of products mainly focused on PC gaming such as laptops, tablet computer, various PC peripherals, wearables, and accessories. The Razer brand is currently being marketed under Razer USA Ltd.
Contents
History
Razer was founded in 1998 by a team of marketers and engineers to develop and market a high-end computer gaming mouse, the Boomslang, targeted to computer gamers.
At Consumer Electronics Show 2011, Razer unveiled the Razer Switchblade, a handheld gaming device prototype.
At CES 2013, Razer unveiled its Razer Edge gaming tablet computer, which was previously known as Project Fiona. The tablet uses the Windows 8 operating system and is designed with gaming in mind.
In May 2013, Razer unveiled the 14-inch Razer Blade and 17-inch Razer Blade Pro gaming laptops with fourth-generation Intel Haswell processors. The Razer Blade 14-inch portable gaming laptop was dubbed the "world's thinnest gaming laptop" which weighed just 4.1 lbs., while the 17-inch screen Razer Blade Pro featured the built-in 'Switchblade' LCD display.
At CES 2014, Razer unveiled Project Christine, a modular gaming PC. Each of the branches on the PC is a discrete component—a CPU, a GPU, a hard drive, memory—that simply plug into the central backbone. Once slotted in, Project Christine automatically syncs the newly added modules through PCI-Express (the same serial bus that discrete graphics cards and other components currently use).
In July 2015, Razer announced it was purchasing the software division of video-game company Ouya.
At Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016, Razer has been selected for People's Choice Winner for Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook. The company won the year before for the Razer Forge TV, and this year, it took home the prize for the Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook, a super-slim gaming laptop.
In October 2016, Razer purchased THX according to THX CEO Ty Ahmad-Taylor.
At CES 2017, Razer revealed Project Valerie, a triple display laptop, and Project Ariana, a projector that is designed to project onto a room with automatic room scanning.
In January 2017, Razer bought manufacturer Nextbit, the startup behind the Robin smartphone.
Products
Razer's products are generally targeted at gamers, and include gaming laptops, gaming tablets, and PC peripherals such as mice, audio devices, keyboards, mouse mats, and game pads. Razer has also released a VOIP software called Razer Comms. The Razer DeathAdder gaming mouse is the company's most popular product by sales numbers. Most Razer products are named after predatory or venomous animals, ranging from snakes (mice), insects (mouse mats), arachnids (keyboards) over marine creatures (audio) to felines (console peripherals), with the Razer Blade laptops and Razer Edge instead named after bladed objects.
Gaming equipment
Wearables
Other
Based on information on Engadget, Razer's products have always been aimed towards gamers. The mice line of products is used by over 16% of professional gamers.