Razer Co-Founder And Key Player In Gaming Industry, Robert Krakoff, Dies At 81

Gaming hardware giant Razer has confirmed the passing away of its co-founder, Robert Krakoff, at 81 years. Krakoff played a major role in the launch of the Razer Boomslang, the first-ever gaming mouse in the industry.

In a Twitter post, Razer praised Krakoff’s contributions to the gaming industry. “We are saddened by the passing of Co-Founder and President Emeritus, Robert Krakoff, known by everyone as RazerGuy. Robert’s unwavering drive and passing for gaming lives on and continues to inspire all of us,” the company wrote.

IGN wrote that while Krakoff did not create the Razer Boomslang himself, he played a major role in making the gaming mouse possible as he worked with a marketing agency called Fitch to bring the Razer Boomslang to the market in 1999. Fitch helped with the overall design of the Razer Boomslang and also developed its logo, name, website, and packaging.

Before Razer, Krakoff worked with Kärna, a company that invented an encoding wheel with the capacity to track a mouse’s movements at 2000 dpi. However, Kärna went bankrupt in 2001. Four years later, Krakoff co-founded Razer with the current CEO, Min-Liang Tan.

Krakoff became the face of the company during its first decade in the industry, and he used to send short messages to buyers of Razer products, The Verge reported. He also became known to small-time journalists for giving time for interviews even if the reporters seeking his comments had minimal following. There have been times when the Razerguy gave jobs to “scrappy journalists,” the outlet wrote.

Kotaku reported that Krakoff had done his best to respond to people sending him inquiries through his public email address included in special messages that came with Razer products.

In his later years, Krakoff wrote several novels under various genres, Kotaku Australia reported. Among the novels he wrote under the pen name R.M. Krakoff were “Deadly Dreams” and “Dream Hackers.” On his Amazon page, Krakoff’s novels are described as works that “run the gambit from humor, political black humor to futuristic technical science fiction.”

Unlike some big names in the technology industry that uphold a high level of secrecy, Krakoff was recognized as an “open book,” speaking with news outlets regardless of their popularity and without thought of the benefit that the interview would give him.

Krakoff is survived by his wife, Dr. Patsi Krakoff, and their two children. He also has five grandchildren.