More than half of 2022 has passed, so looking back on the past 9 months, what trends and changes have there been in the mouse and keyboard in gaming peripherals? There are three main trends in this, one is the lightweight of the gaming mouse, the other is wireless, and the last point is multiple connection modes.
1. Lightweight
With the increase of game players and the increase of players’ requirements for peripherals, game peripherals are also facing many challenges. How to occupy their own place in the case of homogenization of performance and functions? Since the success of finalmouse’s lightweight mouse, the mouse has been developing in the direction of lightweight. Whether it is Logitech, Razer or many other brands, they have all begun to invest in the lightweight mouse market. We can often see various news or posts that a brand has launched a new lightweight mouse that weighs just over 40 G.
So, why is the lightweight mouse so attractive to major game peripheral manufacturers? This is mainly because professional gamers and many game enthusiasts need to conduct various game training for a long time, and need to use the mouse to play for a long time. If the mouse is too heavy, the pressure on the fingers and wrist will be greatly increased, and in the long run, various hand diseases may occur, such as tenosynovitis, ganglion cyst, etc. Whether it is for the user’s experience or because of the user’s love for lightweight gaming mice, the lightweight aspect is what major game manufacturers need to pursue.
The two flagships from Logitech and NVC are good examples. The most important change in the upgraded G PRO X SUPERLIGHT of Logitech’s G PRO WIRELESS is that the weight has dropped by about 17g again. In fact, if you compare G PRO WIRELESS and G PRO X SUPERLIGHT carefully, you will find that there is almost no difference between the two except for the substantial weight reduction and fine-tuning in appearance, and even the battery life that often appeared on the promotional page before. Time disappeared.
Razer is no exception. Razer’s flagship mouse, the Viper Ultimate Edition, is also a lightweight product. It can be said to be a product that benchmarks against G PRO WIRELESS.
In addition to the mouse, lightweight will also be reflected in a series of other products, such as headphones, its wearing comfort is a point that players value very much. This needs to take into account the skin-friendly and softness of the ear pads and head pad materials. A model without a sense of oppression allows us to wear headphones for a long time without feeling the burden, and the weight cannot be ignored. The lighter the earphones, the less pressure on our head and neck, reducing the occurrence of headaches.
2. Wireless gaming peripherals will be low-end
In recent years, another obvious trend of game peripherals is wireless. From mouse to keyboard to headset, major game manufacturers have created a series of wireless peripheral product lines, so that you can get rid of the shackles of wired. It has become a common goal of game manufacturers.
In addition to the wireless trend of game peripherals, another obvious trend is that wireless game peripherals have gradually extended from the initial high-end peripherals to the field of low-end peripherals. This is because the improvement of wireless transmission technology makes its cost lower, so it can be installed on low-end gaming mice.
In the field of gaming, going wireless is not easy. Different from the needs of daily office work and web browsing, game peripherals need to provide players with accurate operating feedback and extremely low latency during intense operations. To achieve accurate feedback and extremely low latency, wireless gaming peripherals need to reduce their wireless transmission delay to the same or even lower value than wired connections, because wireless transmission is more susceptible to external interference. To solve these problems, manufacturers need to deeply optimize and customize the wireless connection module.
However, due to the large investment in research and development of wireless transmission optimization at the beginning, most low-latency wireless technologies are only applied to high-end gaming peripherals. However, with the gradual improvement of wireless technology in recent years, today’s low-latency wireless technology has become more mature, and the cost has also been significantly reduced. Low-latency wireless technology has also begun to be added to low-end gaming mice, keyboards and headphones.
3. Three-mode game peripherals will be standard in mid and high end
Wireless three-mode gaming peripherals are available in small numbers but can be found. For example, Razer Black Widow Spider V3 mechanical keyboard, Razer Purgatory Viper V2 Pro mouse, Logitech G913 gaming keyboard and other products all support three-mode connection. Simply put, three-mode refers to three connection methods including wired, wireless 2.4G and wireless Bluetooth, which includes all the current connection methods of game keyboards and mice.
At present, the main application of 3-mode connection is more high-end office equipment and less game equipment, but there are also some signs, such as the Cool Knight 3 magnesium alloy 3-mode gaming mouse under the Cool Burn brand, CB- TMK61 wireless three-mode game mechanical keyboard, these two game peripherals use three connection modes, and have very high configuration, both belong to high-end game equipment.
In addition, Germany’s Ice Leopard also launched the first wireless three-mode gaming mouse KONE PRO, and Alienware also launched the first three-mode wireless gaming headset AW920H. Judging from the product information that has been released or is about to be released, the development of high-end gaming peripherals to wireless three-mode is already a relatively obvious trend. It is expected that major game peripheral manufacturers will continue to launch new mid-to-high-end three-mode external Assume.
The tri-mode peripheral has its own unique advantages, and it can cater to players with multiple devices. Many players have more than one game device, from computers to Switch, game consoles, mobile phones, etc. Wired connections are solid, with low input lag, but are tethered to the wire and need to occupy a USB port. The Bluetooth connection will not be bound by wires, and is common to devices, platforms, and systems, but the transmission frequency is low. 2.4G has a fast transmission rate and is not bound by cables, but it cannot be used by devices. In the case of multi-device play, wireless three-mode will become a rigid need. Even if it is not multi-device, having more connection methods will allow players to have more choices and adapt to different scenarios.
There is no doubt that the arrival of low-latency wireless tri-mode technology will usher in a new wave of technological competition in the gaming peripheral market once again.
