Competitive gamers are a rare breed. They demand performance, comfort and consistency above all else from their peripherals and systems, whether that’s an Xbox 360 or a PC. With that in mind, SteelSeries is readying the Ikari Laser Mouse, but before it comes out, the development squad wants you to know a few things.
In a vehement editorial at fragyou.net entitled “Don’t believe the hype – laser wasn’t meant for gaming (till now),” the development team laid bare the problems with conventional gaming mice. As with all marketing, they painted the new SteelSeries product in a favorable light. Check it:
All kinds of different manufacturers promise the Holy Grail when it comes to describing what their mice can do. Laser technology, 4.000 DPI, a high number of buttons, Burst-Fire-Button, glowing colors, gold-plated USB connectors and “always on hyper ultra something” are just some of the features that are offered to us, in the mouse manufacturers quest of making their potential customer one of the top gamers in the world. According to these companies every top gamer would be even better when using a 4.000 DPI laser mouse. “For gamers by gamers”, “created for gaming”, “the ultimate gaming mouse”, “hardcore gaming” – you’ll find all these statements, and many more, when browsing today’s gaming mice.
While I find myself agreeing with the development team on a few points, namely that the gaming mouse market has been overrun by ridiculous features, the editorial didn’t hit a bullseye with me. The answer lies in the first sentence of the second paragraph.
“As a manufacturer of professional gaming gear …” — aha! Herein lies the problem. Gaming mice are not made for professional, or even competitive, gamers. They’re made for the kind of gamers that buy flashy stuff. The lowest common denominator has the highest profit margin, so that’s what mouse manufacturers, and any other companies who do anything to make money, aim for.
If you go do a survey of truly professional gamers (and SteelSeries, to their credit, has a large stable of sponsored players to ask), you’ll find the majority of them using years-old technology to frag people with. And most of them are doing just fine.
A small number switched over to laser mice, especially from Logitech, because they tend to have a ton of teflon on the bottom that helps with smoothness. Whatever the case, the competitive gaming market doesn’t drive sales of these devices. Casual gamers buy them in droves.
The evidence? If it didn’t work, mouse makers wouldn’t keep doing it. It’s all fairly simple to me.
By carving out such a niche, SteelSeries carves into their profits. It’s an admirable, if not insanely lucrative, method of business. We’re not talking about Harley-Davidson levels of profit here.
Some may think that I’m coming out swinging at SteelSeries due to a personal grudge. That’s not true; I’m a big fan of their products for what they are, and I’ll be reviewing the Ikari myself when it’s released.
While the marketing may set SteelSeries apart from other manufacturers in the eyes of competitive gamers or fans, competitive gamers already recognize it as a unique brand. They’re preaching to the choir.
What they need to be doing is building the brand and getting recognition outside of the competitive gaming scene. Bring the truth to those who really need it. Just my two cents.
2 Comments
I bet there’s a good amount of gamers who buy this “professional gaming gear” thinking they will get better at their game. The reality is you can only get better at anything in life is by practicing (having a little bit of talent helps too :P). It’s all marketing in the end. These companies like SteelSeries and Razer just want to make money off the dumb gamer who thinks it’s the easy way up the ladder to buy a razer mouse or whatever and you’ll instantly get better. The only positive side of these companies in my opinion is that they promote gaming as a whole which is never a bad thing.
P.S.: I own a SteelSeries QcK mousepad and I love it, but I bought it because it was cheap (price-wise) and my old mousepad was just too damn small for the sensitivity on my mouse.
I don’t agree that professional gamers don’t buy laser mice, or even newer mice. I know a TON of people and from the lan events I’ve been to, many of them using the MX518, G5, Copperhead, Deathadder, etc. This market isn’t simply for the casual gamer, its for anyone serious about their game. You’re trying to leverage this one little statistic to say that pro gamers arent interested in what these companies have to sell. Get real.