Razer Co-Founder And Gaming Mouse Legend Robert Krakoff Passes Away
Robert Krakoff, affectionately known as RazerGuy and who was a pioneer in gaming mice and peripherals, has passed away at 81 years old. Razer, the company he co-founded 17 years ago, announced the sad news on Twitter.
"We are saddened by the passing of co-founder and President Emeritus, Robert Krakoff, known by everyone as RazerGuy. Robert's unwavering drive and passion for gaming lives on an continues to inspire us all. Thank you Rob, you will be missed," Razer stated.
Krakoff passed away on April 26, 2022. Nearly 23 years prior, he helped bring what is recognized as the first ever gaming mouse to market, the infamous Razer Boomslang. At the time, it was actually a product of Kärna, through its Razer branding that was developed by a marketing agency called Fitch.
Kärna went bankrupt a few years later, and then in 2005 Krakoff co-founded Razer with its current CEO Min-Liang Tan. While credit for inventing the Boomslang belongs to Fitch, Razer certainly played a huge role in popularizing purpose-built gaming peripherals, including mice and keyboards, and later headsets and an assortment of other products such as gaming chairs, desktops, and laptops like the Blade 14.
For a long time, Krakoff was the face of Razer. He was also a well-like individual with an interesting resume that includes having having attended UCLA on a football scholarship, and then playing five years for the Los Angeles Rams years before co-founding Razer. In 2001 he also founded MindFX Science, a company that makes energy drinks and supplements aimed to be a "healthy alternative to the highly caffeinated energy drinks and pre-workout products."
Here he is in 2002 promoting the ambidextrous Boomslang in 1000 and 2000 DPI variants and on-the-fly sensitivity adjustments, a feature that is pretty much standard in today's gaming mice.
From all of us at Hot Hardware, rest in peace and thanks for your contributions to PC gaming, RazerGuy. To echo Razer, you will be missed.
