Console gamers looking for a keyboard and mouse option on their Xbox One can now look forward to a wireless combo arriving courtesy of Razer. The Razer Turret is an official keyboard and mouse combo designed specifically for the Xbox One, complete with dynamic and colored lighting options and a 2.4 GHz wireless connection.
Razer and their triple-headed snake logo represent a highly recognizable brand for gamers, crafting reliable hardware and frequently sponsoring and supplying eSports tournaments. The Razer Turret is definitely not their first Xbox One hardware offering, but it does present a significant sea change in the long-contested landscape of keyboard and mouse solutions on console.
The Razer Turret essentially introduces a wireless keyboard and mouse setup designed for couch play to the controller-focused standard of a console experience. This may present first-person shooter players with a considerable leg up over their controller-using rivals, making the Razer Turret an unusual gambit that may blur the lines further within Microsoft’s ecosystem, which has often sought to unify the experience between Xbox One and Windows 10 gaming.
Most gamers would agree that the precision offered in a keyboard and mouse setup provides those players with an obvious upper hand. Consider 2016’s Gears of War 4, a Microsoft exclusive which featured built-in cross-play options, but also made specific compromises to cater to the uneasy competitive balance resulting from input devices. Ranked cross-play in Gears of War 4 was actually disabled at launch, presumably based on fears that console players confined to controllers would end up frustrated by their mouse-based PC competition.
Gears of War 4 did eventually open up ranked cross-play, and certain keyboard and mouse options have existed for a while on the peripheral device market, even in previous console generations. And yet, the Razer Turret combo still stands out, as it looks to be a premium offering virtually indistinguishable from similar PC packages. The Razer Turret has Razer Chroma lighting technology, Xbox Dynamic Lighting (which prompts immersive programmed lighting alongside supported titles like Vermintide 2), mechanical switches, and a wireless mouse based on Razer’s own Mamba model. The Razer Turret is even designed to be fully compatible with both the PC and Xbox One, allowing players to swap their setup at will, though certain options (like programmable keys) will apparently be disabled during console play.
Microsoft has been working towards a unified Windows 10 gaming experience for a while, and the Razer Turret might represent a meaningful step forward towards that goal. The Razer Turret is currently expected to release in the first quarter of 2019, with an expected retail price of $249.99.
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Source: Razer
