Pro-gaming team Fnatic has announced that it's getting into the peripherals market, partnering with Func to produce a range of gaming-centric devices funded through Indiegogo.
It's an entirely common sight for professional gaming teams to partner with hardware manufacturers: team names have found their way onto everything from motherboards to mouse mats, with individual involvement ranging from simply choosing a colour scheme through to being hands-on with the design of the product. Fnatic, though, claims to be going a step further: designing products entirely from scratch specifically for the pro-gaming market.
'While we loved the design language and build quality of Func's old products, we didn't feel any of products were quite right for Esports aside from their KB-460 Keyboard,' the team explains in its crowd-funding pitch. 'We were truly impressed with the design and attention to detail we saw from the guys at Func and knew we wanted to work with them. We decided to scrap the rest of Func's product designs and start developing everything else from scratch.
'We spent months with our players giving feedback on what they wanted in Esports gear. It was an long long long long long process. We spent a ton of time in Asia, evaluating factory partners, working with them to build initial prototypes, testing materials, and countless hours testing and validating our products designs.'
The result: the Flick G1 optical gaming mouse, Rush G1 mechanical keyboard, Focus G1 cloth and Boost G1 polycarbonate mouse mats, all due to begin shipping in December this year - one of the benefits of partnering with a company that produces such devices professionally. Each, the team has claimed, is produced specifically for tournament gamers with prices set at $19 for the mouse mats, $39 for the larger Focus Desk Mouse Pad, $49 for the Flick, $119 for the Rush, or $167 for the Pro Pack of Focus, Flick, and Rush, with various extras available at higher tier reward levels.
Fnatic's choice of Indiegogo is no accident: the team is making use of the site's contentious 'Flexible Funding' option, which means the funds will be received even if its amusingly-chosen goal of $133,700 is not reached. With the backing of Func, though, the risks to backers should be minimised.
Fnatic has indicated that the profits generated through the crowd-funding campaign will be used to develop a new range of products for release next year.
It's an entirely common sight for professional gaming teams to partner with hardware manufacturers: team names have found their way onto everything from motherboards to mouse mats, with individual involvement ranging from simply choosing a colour scheme through to being hands-on with the design of the product. Fnatic, though, claims to be going a step further: designing products entirely from scratch specifically for the pro-gaming market.
'While we loved the design language and build quality of Func's old products, we didn't feel any of products were quite right for Esports aside from their KB-460 Keyboard,' the team explains in its crowd-funding pitch. 'We were truly impressed with the design and attention to detail we saw from the guys at Func and knew we wanted to work with them. We decided to scrap the rest of Func's product designs and start developing everything else from scratch.
'We spent months with our players giving feedback on what they wanted in Esports gear. It was an long long long long long process. We spent a ton of time in Asia, evaluating factory partners, working with them to build initial prototypes, testing materials, and countless hours testing and validating our products designs.'
The result: the Flick G1 optical gaming mouse, Rush G1 mechanical keyboard, Focus G1 cloth and Boost G1 polycarbonate mouse mats, all due to begin shipping in December this year - one of the benefits of partnering with a company that produces such devices professionally. Each, the team has claimed, is produced specifically for tournament gamers with prices set at $19 for the mouse mats, $39 for the larger Focus Desk Mouse Pad, $49 for the Flick, $119 for the Rush, or $167 for the Pro Pack of Focus, Flick, and Rush, with various extras available at higher tier reward levels.
Fnatic's choice of Indiegogo is no accident: the team is making use of the site's contentious 'Flexible Funding' option, which means the funds will be received even if its amusingly-chosen goal of $133,700 is not reached. With the backing of Func, though, the risks to backers should be minimised.
Fnatic has indicated that the profits generated through the crowd-funding campaign will be used to develop a new range of products for release next year.
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