Razer acquires software haptics company to boost HyperSense
There's so much impressive hardware in the gaming scene. It used to be a bit niche and often getting any sort of 3rd party peripheral would be merely a cheap mistake. Instead now we have robust keyboards and mice that improve year over year. Gaming headsets that absolutely slap for all kinds of sound. Nice speedy monitors, and even plenty of stuff you might never have even asked for.
Razer is one brand that's been pumping out all sorts of PC peripherals for as long as I can remember. The company makes everything from mice, all the way to gaming laptops. You may be familiar with their RGB tendencies, but Razer has also sported a fascination for haptic feedback which may be about to get even crazier.
The company that believes in shaking up our skulls with vibrating haptic headphones and our butts with buzzing gaming chairs, has acquired Interhaptics. Interhaptics specialises in gaming feedback from a software perspective. They also focus on haptics for VR and mixed reality systems. Razer is bringing on Interhaptics to help work on its own HyperSense haptic feedback.
But it's more than just buying out the company. The Founder and CEO of Interhaptics Eric Vezzoli is also coming over to Razer. Vezzoli will serve as the Associate Director of Haptics at Razer so it sounds like a fairly big push towards more vibratey things.
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“Haptics has tremendous value for gamers,” said Vezzoli. “The opportunity to join Razer was a no brainer for us, as they are committed to delivering the most engaging gaming experience, and we are looking forward to doing it together as part of the Razer family.”
That being said, Razer says Interhaptics will still remain independent. This means even if Razer doesn't branch out into VR haptics we should still see some cool innovations along those lines from Interhaptics in the future. Although what could beat feeling like there are spiders in your mouth?
It's been a few years since I've used one of Razer's vibrating headsets and while it wasn't quite there yet, more rumble did resonate with me, especially in a PC gaming setting where you might not be getting any haptic feedback at all. The newest version is the wireless Razer Kraken V3 Pro and while a bit of a price jump from the non-wireless Kraken V3 HyperSense, it seems like improvements have been made all round.
However, one of our gripes when it comes to these headsets is the haptics are only just picking up on sound. Loud deep noises get vibrations and others don't as opposed to vibrations being related to damage taken or the likes. Bringing Interhaptics skills onboard could just be the software push Razer needs to really bring out the best in these rumbling cans, and hopefully plenty of other devices down the line too.