Razer co-founder and gaming mouse champion Robert Krakoff has passed away

Robert Krakoff, the co-founder of gaming hardware company Razer, passed away last week at the age of 81. Krakoff, best known within the gaming community by his nickname RazerGuy, was seen as one of the founders of the modern gaming mouse.

Before the actual founding of Razer, Krakoff put the gaming accessories market on the map with what would later be called the Razer Boomslang. The gaming mouse was a special product in the late 1990s; with a dpi of 2000, the Boomslang managed to feel much more responsive than competing mice. Partly due to the handy application for gamers, the mouse was marketed by Krakoff as ‘designed for the specific needs of hardcore gamers’.

The mouse was initially released under Razer as a subsidiary brand of the Kärna company. It wasn’t until 2005 that Razer was actually founded as an independent company by Krakoff and business partner Min-Liang Tan. Since then, the company has grown into a gaming hardware multinational. In 2021, a turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros was booked.

Krakoff held the title of President Emeritus at Razer until his death, but he was also active in other sectors. He set up MindFX Science, a company that claims to make healthy alternatives to nutritional supplements and sports drinks. He also wrote nine fiction and non-fiction books and played football for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1960s.