A rep for a major mouse company thinks half of gaming mice will be like the Superstrike in three years
Since the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike launched a few weeks ago, one of the biggest questions has been how much it will change the market. As of right now, it's the only mouse with proper analogue switches that allow for super-light actuation and rapid trigger. It's not really been a question whether it will change the market—it will—rather the questions are when, and by how much? I've had my own speculations, but we've now got an industry insider's speculations to go off.
Ex-pro gamer and now-Pulsar marketing and sales specialist FrostyZK recently sat down with rodent boffins ManPhalanges and dazztrazak for their regular MouseCast podcast, and the Superstrike was, of course, brought up.
When asked by dazztrazak whether he thinks the Superstrike's haptic clicks will take over the industry, be 50-50, or whether the market will maintain mostly "normal" clicks, in three years' time, FrostyZK responds:
"I think it would be like a 50-50, because you have your gamers who don't want to use new things, like the hardcore CS pros, the heavy mice. The market is split right now, right? There's the enthusiasts and there's the hardcore pro gamers who like the old stuff... They like using the same old mouse pad from a year or two years ago... I think I would probably lean more towards the 50-50."
He has more thoughts about how it will affect the market over the shorter term, too:
"I think the market just has so many different trends. Obviously, lightweight mice have taken over now, and who knows what the next trend might be. It could be the Hall effect, now, that could be the next trend.
This is just my opinion, but I think Hall effect is amazing, but I think... after they try it, they're like, 'Okay, I'll wait until my favourite brand or my favourite shape has this.' So I think they're going to wait a bit. I think that's how the market is going to sway, for now."
Interestingly, he suggests that other companies have been considering doing what Logitech has done with the Superstrike for a while, but were scared to pull the trigger:
"I really respect that Logitech was the first company to do the haptic switches. From what I know, this is not anything new. I think people have been looking at it for a while, but no one wanted to press the button on it. It's a bit risky. But I think they did it well and they marketed it well... They're going to change the industry, so it is huge."
When I spoke to Logitech's chief engineer at the company's HQ in Switzerland last month, he told me he has "no doubt" that the technology could be used in cheaper mice. Presumably, such mice can be any shape or size, so I think it will make sense for people to wait for the tech to come to a shape they love. As many in the mouse enthusiast community say: shape is king.
I've been lucky that I already really liked the Superlight shape, which the Superstrike copies. I haven't had to adjust much to using it, and I haven't even struggled with accidental clicks at the lowest level of actuation for the lightest and speediest clicks. But your mileage may vary, so it's good to hear that an industry insider is predicting the tech to expand across the market to such an extent, even if some do stick with the mechanical and non-haptic-inductive mice they love for some time.
There's also the question of implementation to consider, of course. There's no guarantee that other companies will be able to replicate the sharp, tailored click feeling of the haptics that Logitech has achieved. Logi engineers were keen to emphasise to me, on my visit, just how much work they'd put into getting those haptics just right. But equally, I can't think of a reason why other manufacturers couldn't do the same. Hopefully, we won't have too long to wait to find out.